Mensa (constellation)
| Constellation | |
|
|
| Abbreviation | Men |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Mensae |
| Pronunciation |
/ˈmɛnsə/ genitive: /ˈmɛnsiː/ |
| Symbolism | the Table Mountain |
| Right ascension | 4 ~ 7.5 |
| Declination | −71 ~ −85.5 |
| Family | La Caille |
| Quadrant | SQ1 |
| Area | 153 sq. deg. (75th) |
| Main stars | 4 |
|
Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
16 |
| Stars with planets | 2 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | none |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | none |
| Brightest star | α Men (5.09m) |
| Nearest star |
α Mensae (33.10 ly, 10.15 pc) |
| Messier objects | none |
| Meteor showers | none |
| Bordering constellations |
Chamaeleon Dorado Hydrus Octans Volans |
|
Visible at latitudes between +4° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January. |
|
Mensa is a small constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere between Scorpius and Centaurus, one of twelve drawn up in the 18th century by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name is Latin for table, though it originally depicted Table Mountain and was known as Mons Mensae. One of the 88 modern constellations, it covers a keystone-shaped wedge of sky stretching from approximately 4h to 7.5h of right ascension, and −71 to −85.5 degrees of declination. Other than the south polar constellation of Octans, it is the most southerly of constellations. As a result, it is essentially unobservable from the Northern Hemisphere.
One of the faintest constellations in the night sky, Mensa boasts no bright stars. Its brightest star, Alpha Mensae is barely visible in suburban skies. Two star systems in Mensa have been found to have planets, and part of the Large Magellanic Cloud lies within the constellation's borders.
Initially known as Mons Mensae, Mensa was created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille out of dim Southern Hemisphere stars in honor of Table Mountain, a South African mountain overlooking Cape Town. He recalled that the Magellanic clouds were sometimes known as Cape clouds, and that Table Mountain was often covered in cloud when a southeasterly stormy wind blew. Hence he made a "table" in the sky under the clouds. Lacaille had observed and catalogued 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope. He devised 14 new constellations in uncharted regions of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere not visible from Europe. Mensa was the only constellation that did not honor an instrument that symbolised the Age of Enlightenment.John Herschel proposed shrinking the name to one word in 1844, noting that Lacaille himself had abbreviated his constellations thus on occasion.
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Wikipedia