Antlia (abbr. Ant, gen. Antliae) The Air Pump; a small, obscure southern constellation. Originally called Antlia Pneumatica and thought to represent the pump invented by English physicist Robert Boyle, it lies slightly north of the constellation Vela. Its brightest star, Alpha Ant, is a giant K star (visual magnitude 4.28, absolute magnitude -0.98, spectral type K4III, distance 366 light-years). Among its interesting deep-sky objects are the planetary nebula NGC 3132 (R.A. 10h 4.9m, Dec. -40° 11') which is similar in appearance to the Ring Nebula but a magnitude brighter, and the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy.
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