Aft deck of the ship
Constellation aft deck of the ship |
|
---|---|
Latin name | Puppis |
Latin genitive | Puppis |
Abbreviation | Pup |
Right ascension | 06 h 02 m 00 s to 08 h 27 m 58 s |
declination | −51 ° 06 ′ 09 ″ to −11 ° 15 ′ 08 ″ |
surface | 673,434 deg² rank 20 |
Completely visible | 38.3 ° N to 90 ° S |
Observation time for Central Europe | Winter (partially) |
Number of stars brighter than 3 mag | 4th |
Brightest star (size) | Naos (2.06) |
Meteor streams | |
Neighboring constellations ( clockwise from north ) |
|
swell | IAU , |
The aft deck of the ship (Latin Puppis), also called the rear deck of the ship or the rear of the ship , is a constellation of the southern sky.
description
The quarterdeck is an expansive constellation west and south of the Great Dog (Canis Major). Four of its stars are brighter than the 3rd magnitude .
The band of the Milky Way runs through the western part, which is why several open star clusters such as M46 , M47 and M93 can be found on the aft deck .
Due to its location, the constellation can only be fully seen from Europe in the extreme south (southern Spain , Sicily , Peloponnese ). The constellation rises from Central Europe to a little south to the center.
history
The aft deck of the ship is part of the ancient constellation Argo Navis , which was one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy .
In 1763 , the French astronomer Lacaille divided the very extensive and confusing constellation into the constellations keel of the ship (Carina), sails of the ship (Vela) and aft deck. The original star designations were retained, so that each Greek letter appears only once in the three constellations. Therefore there is a star α Carinae (Canopus), but no stars α Puppis or α Velorum.
The Dutchman Petrus Plancius , who mostly used Christian motifs for his constellations, suggested the constellation Gallus (Rooster) for the stars between the quarterdeck and the Great Dog . It was supposed to represent the rooster whose crows showed Jesus Christ that his disciple Peter had betrayed him three times. However, the constellation did not prevail.
mythology
In Greek mythology, Argo Navis was the ship of Jason and his companions, the Argonauts , who were looking for the golden fleece , a gold-colored ram's skin. Jason, son of King Aison of Thessaly, was deprived of the line of succession by his half-brother Pelias . Jason was to regain the throne when he brought Pelias the golden fleece - an almost impossible task, since the fabulous fur in a sacred grove in Colchis was guarded by a deadly dragon. With the help of the king's daughter Medea , however, Jason came into possession of the fur. The ship Argo and the fleece were moved into the sky, the latter as the constellation Aries .
In ancient Egypt , the constellation was also a ship with which their god Osiris sailed.
Celestial objects
Stars
B. | F. | Names or other designations | Size (mag) | Lj | Spectral class |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ζ | Naos , Suhail Hadar | 2.21 | approx. 1100 | O5 IAf | |
π | Pi Puppis | 2.7 | about 800 | K3 Ib | |
ρ | 15th | Rho Puppis | 2.83 | 64 | F6 IIp |
τ | Tau Puppis | 2.94 | 182 | K1 III | |
ν | Ny Puppis | 3.17 | about 400 | B8 III | |
σ | Hadir | 3.25 | circa 194 | K5 III | |
ξ | 7th | Azmidisk (aspidisk) | 3.34 | about 1200 | G6 Ia |
c | c Puppis | 3.6 | about 1000 | K5 IIa + approx.B9 | |
a | 3.7 | approx. 350 | K1-2 II + A0 | ||
l | 3 | HD 62623 | 3.9 | A2 Iab | |
P | HD 63922 | 4.1 | B0 III | ||
j | 11 | 4.2 | F7 + F8 II | ||
J | 4.2 | B0.5 Ib | |||
ο | Omikron Puppis | 4.4 | B1 IV: nne | ||
16 | 4.4 | B5 V |
The brightest star ζ Puppis is an extremely luminous supergiant of the spectral class O5 at a distance of 1100 light years . It has about 60 times the mass, 40 times the diameter and 790,000 times the bolometric luminosity of our sun. His proper name Naos comes from the Greek and means "ship".
Double stars
system | Sizes (mag) | distance |
---|---|---|
π | ||
ξ | 3.3 / 5.3 | 288 " |
k | 4.5 / 4.8 | 9.9 " |
n | 5.8 / 5.9 | 9.7 " |
ν | 4.7 / 5.1 | 240 " |
Pi Puppis , the second brightest star, is a binary star system around 800 light years away. It is a glowing orange supergiant accompanied by a glowing white star.
The system Xi Puppis is about 1200 light years away and consists of two stars of the spectral classes G3 and G0. Because of their wide angular distance of 288 arcseconds , they can be observed with prism binoculars .
K Puppis is an optical double star, formed by HR 2948 (k 1 ) and HR 2949 (k 2 ).
Variable stars
star | Size (mag) | period | Type |
---|---|---|---|
L² | 2.6 to 7.54 | 140.6 days | Semi-regularly variable |
RS | 7.0 (spectral class: F8Iab) | 41.4 days | Cepheids |
L 2 Puppis is a semi-regular variable star 198 light-years away that changes its brightness over a period of approximately 140 days. It is a reddish star belonging to the spectral classes M5IIIe − M6IIIe. During the maximum it is noticeably bright, at a minimum it can barely be seen with the naked eye under favorable visibility conditions.
RS Puppis is a variable giant star of the Delta Cepheid type and the only known of this type, which is embedded in a reflection nebula consisting of fine dust. Through this nebula, its distance could be determined very precisely to 6500 ± 90 light years. It is about 200 times larger, 10 times heavier and 15,000 times more luminous than our sun.
Messier and NGC objects
Messier (M) | NGC | other | Size (mag) | Type | Surname |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
46 | 2437 | 6.5 | Open star cluster | ||
47 | 2422 | 4.5 | Open star cluster | ||
93 | 2447 | 6.5 | Open star cluster | ||
2298 | 9.3 | Globular clusters | |||
2423 | 6.5 | Open star cluster | |||
2438 | 10.5 | Planetary nebula | |||
2451 | 3.0 | Open star cluster | |||
2477 | 6.0 | Open star cluster | |||
2539 | 6.5 | Open star cluster | |||
2546 | 6.5 | Open star cluster |
In the quarterdeck there are a number of open star clusters . The French astronomer and comet hunter Charles Messier included three in his catalog of foggy objects ( Messier catalog ).
M 46 is a star cluster about 6000 light years away. A multitude of stars becomes visible in the telescope.
In the northern part of M 46 you can see the planetary nebula NGC 2438 , the ejected gas envelope of a star , in the telescope . However, the nebula does not belong to the star cluster, as it is much closer at a distance of 4000 light years.
M 47 is about 1800 light years away. It can already be seen with the naked eye as a misty spot. At low magnification it is a very nice sight in the telescope. It is a relatively young star cluster with bright, bluish stars.
M 93 is about 4000 light years away. With a telescope you can see about 50 stars.
NGC 2451 is the brightest star cluster in the quarterdeck and is clearly visible to the naked eye. However, due to its southern location, it cannot be observed from Central Europe. It is about 5000 light years away.