Octans
| Constellation | |
|
|
| Abbreviation | Oct |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Octantis |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɒktænz/, genitive /ɒkˈtæntᵻs/ |
| Symbolism | the Octant |
| Right ascension | 22 |
| Declination | −90 |
| Family | La Caille |
| Quadrant | SQ4 |
| Area | 291 sq. deg. (50th) |
| Main stars | 3 |
|
Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
27 |
| Stars with planets | 3 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 0 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 1 |
| Brightest star | ν Oct (3.73m) |
| Nearest star |
LHS 531 (28.11 ly, 8.62 pc) |
| Messier objects | none |
| Meteor showers | none |
| Bordering constellations |
Tucana Indus Pavo Apus Chamaeleon Mensa Hydrus |
|
Visible at latitudes between +0° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of October. Circumpolar. |
|
Octans /ˈɒktænz/ is a faint constellation located in the deep southern sky. Its name is Latin for the eighth part of a circle, but it is named after the octant, a navigational instrument. The constellation was devised by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.
Octans was one of 14 constellations created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, and was originally named "l’Octans de Reflexion", French for “the reflecting octant”. It was part of his catalogue of the southern sky, the Coelum Australe Stelliferum, which was published posthumously in 1763. In Europe, it became more widely known as Octans Hadleianus, in honor of English mathematician John Hadley, who invented the octant in 1730. There is no real mythology related to Octans, partially due to its faintness and relative recentness, but mostly because of its extreme southerly latitude.
Octans is bordered by seven different constellations, most of which are far more prominent than itself: Apus (the bird-of-paradise), Mensa (the table), Chamaeleon (the chamaeleon), Pavo (the peacock), Indus (the Indian), Tucana (the toucan), and Hydrus (the male water snake). The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is Oct. The official constellation boundaries are defined by an eight-sided polygon. Covering 291 square degrees, Octans ranks 50th in area out of the 88 modern constellations.
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Wikipedia