A constellation introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Lacaille in the 1750s. It is a southern hemisphere group and celebrates the Table Mountain at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa from where he observed the night sky.
It’s one claim to fame is that part of the Large Magellanic
Cloud strays from the neighbouring constellation of Dorado the Goldfish, over
the border into Mensa possibly reminding Lacaille of the cloud that frequently
covers the real Table Mountain.
Unfortunately, the constellation is very faint and
unimportant.
The brightest star is alpha which at only magnitude 5.1 can be masked by any mist or moonlight. Alpha is a G class star, 33 light years away.
www.theramblingastronomer.co.uk
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