Friday, 3 July 2020

Astrognome A-Z of Constellations # 68 Puppis


Puppis the Stern
This is the largest of the four sections into which the ancient constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts, the constellation was dismembered in the 1750s by the French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille. The other sections are Carina the Keel, Pyxis the compass and Vela the sails.
Puppis lies in the Milky Way and contains rich star fields for sweeping binoculars.
Zeta the brightest star whose name is Naos which means ‘ship’ has a magnitude of 2.2 with a surface temperature of a whopping 38,000’C its an 04 class star and is 1,080 light years away.
Pi the second brightest star, its name Ahadi which means ‘having much promise’ has a magnitude of 2.7 and is a K3 supergiant with a temperature of 3,700’C and is 810 light years away.
Rho magnitude 2.8 F5 supergiant with a temperature of 6,700’C lying at a distance of 65 light years.
Tau magnitude 2.9 ,an orange K1 giant with a temperature of 3,800’C and is 182 light years away.
Xi magnitude 3.4 is a G6 supergiant with a temperature of 4,600’C and is 1,200 light years away.
There are three Messier objects M46,M47 and M93 that require binoculars to see them.
In November 1942 a bright nova appeared in Puppis reaching a magnitude of -0.2



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