It was created by the Dutch astronomer and map maker Petrus
Plancius 1552-1622 in 1598 from observations made by the Dutch explorers and
navigators Pieter Keyser and Frederick de Houtman while they were exploring the
Dutch East Indies or as it is known today, Indonesia.
The work done by Keyser and de Houtman would lead to
Plancius creating 12 new southern hemisphere constellations. Later this
constellation and others would appear on the star map created by Johannes Bayer
in 1603 and the stars would be allocated some letters from the Greek alphabet.
The Chamaeleon was one of many animals placed in the sky by
Europeans when they explored parts of the world they have never seen before.
This one was named Chamaeleon which is a kind of lizard and that can change its
colour. As it is a modern constellation there are no myths or legends attached
to it.
The constellation is rather like the modern constellation of
Lacerta the Lizard that was created by Johannes Hevelius in the northern
hemisphere in the 1680s in that there are no bright stars and it is difficult
to locate.
The brightest star alpha it has no name is only of magnitude
4.1 so any mist, haze or moonlight means you would not be able to see the star.
It lies 63 light years away and is a F class star and is hotter than the Sun.
Gamma also has no name and is the same brightness as alpha at
magnitude 4.1 and is 418 light years away and is a K class giant and is cooler
than the Sun.
The last star I will mention is beta again no name and is
very slightly fainter than alpha and gamma with a magnitude of 4.2, it lies 298
light years away and is B class star and is much hotter than the Sun having a
surface temperature over 14,000 degrees compare the only 5,800 degrees of the
Sun.
There are no star clusters or galaxies to mention in
Chamaeleon.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment