Carina (abbr. Car, gen. Carinae)
The Keel (part of Jason's ship, the Argo), a major southern constellation
that is home to the second brightest star in the sky, Canopus.
It lies to the south of Vela and the southeast
of Centaurus. The Milky Way passing through
Carina and Vela makes for a field rich in open
clusters. See below for details of the constellation's brightest stars
and interesting deep sky objects.
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Carina. © 2003 Torsten Bronger.
Copied here under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License
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| Stars brighter than magnitude 4.0 |
| Star |
Visual
mag. |
Abs.
mag. |
Spectral
type |
Distance
(lt-yr) |
R.A. (h m s) |
Dec. ( ° ' '' ) |
| Alpha (Canopus) |
-0.62 |
-5.53 |
F0Ib |
313 |
06 23 57 |
-52 41 44 |
| Beta (Miaplacidus) |
1.67 |
-1.00 |
A2III |
111 |
09 13 12 |
-69 43 02 |
| Epsilon (Avior) |
1.86 |
-4.58 |
K3III+B2V |
632 |
08 22 31 |
-59 30 34 |
| Iota (Tureis, Aspidiske) |
2.21 |
-4.43 |
A8Ib |
693 |
09 17 05 |
-59 16 31 |
| Theta |
2.74 |
-2.91 |
B0V |
439 |
10 42 57 |
-64 23 39 |
| Upsilon |
2.92 |
-5.57 |
A7Ib+B7III |
1,620 |
09 47 06 |
-65 04 18 |
| Omega |
3.29 |
-1.99 |
B8III |
370 |
10 13 44 |
-70 02 16 |
| q |
3.38 |
-3.38 |
K3IIa |
736 |
10 17 05 |
-61 19 56 |
| a |
3.43 |
-2.11 |
B2IVe |
419 |
09 10 58 |
-58 58 01 |
| Chi |
3.46 |
-1.91 |
B3IVp |
387 |
07 56 47 |
-52 58 56 |
| x |
3.93 |
-7.37 |
G0Ia |
5,930 |
11 08 35 |
-58 58 30 |
| Other objects of interest |
| Name |
Type of Object |
Notes |
| NGC 2867 |
planetary nebula |
An object just within binocular range, lying between
Iota and Chi Car. Magnitude 9.7; diameter 11"; R.A. 09h 21.4m,
Dec. -58° 19' |
| Eta Carinae
Nebula |
diffuse nebula |
NGC 3372. See separate entry |
| NGC 2516 |
open cluster |
A large cluster best seen with binoculars. It contains
about 100 stars, including a fifth magnitude red giant. Magnitude
3.8; diameter 30'; R.A. 07h 58.3m, Dec. -60° 52' |
| NGC 3532 |
open cluster |
About 150 stars of sixth magnitude and fainter. Small
telescopes show it well and reveal an elliptical shape. A magnitude
4 orange star at one edge is not a true member but is much more distant.
Magnitude 3.0; diameter 55'; distance 1,300 light-years; R.A. 11h
06.4m, Dec. -58° 40' |
| Southern
Pleiades |
open cluster |
IC 2602. See separate entry |
| Carina OB1 and
OB2 |
open cluster |
See separate entry |
| NGC 2808 |
globular cluster |
A faint naked-eye object. Magnitude 6.3; diameter
14'; R.A. 09h 12.0m, Dec. -64° 52' |
| Carina Dwarf
Galaxy |
galaxy |
See separate entry |
Related categories
NOTABLE
STARS NEBULAE
AND STAR CLUSTERS GALAXIES
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