A tiny and dim constellation in the southern sky is called Pyxis. Its name, Pyxis Nautica, which is shortened, is Latin for a mariner's compass (as opposed to Circinus, which stands for a draftsman's compass). The eighty-eight modern constellations include Pyxis, which Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille introduced in the 18th century.
Pyxis is traversed by the Milky Way's plane. The three brightest stars of this faint constellation, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Pyxidis, are roughly in a line. The brightest star in the constellation, Alpha, has a brightness of 3.68. It is 880 light-years (270 parsecs) away blue-white star that is around 22,000 times brighter than the Sun. The stars that made up the ancient constellation of Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts, are near Pyxis. The Carina (the keel or hull), the Puppis (the poop deck or stern), and the Vela were all components of Argo Navis (the sails). They subsequently developed into separate constellations. John Herschel proposed renaming Pyxis to Malus (which means the mast) in the 19th century, but his idea was not adopted. |
T Pyxidis is a recurring nova that has flared up to magnitude seven periodically, and it is situated around 4 degrees northeast of Alpha Pyxidis. Also, verified exoplanets have been found in three-star systems in Pyxis. In the galactic halo, the Pyxis globular cluster is located around 130,000 light-years away. It was believed that no globular clusters existed in this area. This object's escape from the Large Magellanic Cloud has been suggested. (Irwin et al., 1995)
History
In ancient Chinese astrology, stars from nearby Antlia and the constellations Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Pyxidis were all included in Tianmiao, a celestial temple honouring the emperor's ancestors. (Ridpath 1988) Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille, a French astronomer, named the constellation la Boussole (the Marine Compass) for the first time in French in 1752 (Lacaille 1756), after observing and cataloguing close to 10,000 southern stars during a two-year sojourn at the Cape of Good Hope. In unexplored areas of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere that were inaccessible to observers in Europe, he created fourteen new constellations. All but one of them recognised the artefacts of the Age of Enlightenment. On his 1763 chart, Lacaille Latinized the name to Pixis (sic) Nautica. (Wagman 2003) The four major stars of Pyxis were recognised by the ancient Greeks as the mast of the mythical Jason's ship, Argo Navis. (Ridpath 2006) |
In his 1801-star atlas, German astronomer Johann Bode described the constellation Lochium Funis, the Log, and Line, which revolves around Pyxis. However, the illustration has since been lost. (Ridpath 1988) Francis Baily and John Herschel tried to revive the Argo Navis' traditional configuration in 1844 by dubbing it Malus the Mast, but Benjamin Gould returned Lacaille's appellation. (Wagman 2003)
Characteristics
With an extent of 220.8 square degrees or 0.535 percent of the sky, Pyxis is the 65th-largest of the eighty-eight contemporary constellations. Because of its location in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, observers south of 52°N may see the entire constellation. The months of February and March have the best nighttime visibility. (Sasaki & Boddy 2003) It is a minor constellation that is bounded to the north by Hydra, to the west by Puppis, to the south by Vela, and to the east by Antlia. The International Astronomical Union chose the three-letter abbreviation "Pyx" for the constellation in 1922. (Russell 1922) A polygon with eight sides serves as the formal definition of the constellation borders, which Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte established in 1930. The right ascension coordinates are used in the equatorial coordinate system.
With an extent of 220.8 square degrees or 0.535 percent of the sky, Pyxis is the 65th-largest of the eighty-eight contemporary constellations. Because of its location in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, observers south of 52°N may see the entire constellation. The months of February and March have the best nighttime visibility. (Sasaki & Boddy 2003) It is a minor constellation that is bounded to the north by Hydra, to the west by Puppis, to the south by Vela, and to the east by Antlia. The International Astronomical Union chose the three-letter abbreviation "Pyx" for the constellation in 1922. (Russell 1922) A polygon with eight sides serves as the formal definition of the constellation borders, which Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte established in 1930. The right ascension coordinates are used in the equatorial coordinate system.
Deep-sky Objects
Bayer stars - 10
Stars with planets - 3
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 1
Messier objects - 0
Meteor showers - 0
Bordering
constellations
- NGC 2818 – Planetary Nebula
- NGC 2818A – Open Cluster which is within the Planetary Nebula
- NGC 2627 – Open Cluster
- NGC 2613 – Spiral Galaxy
Bayer stars - 10
Stars with planets - 3
Stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 - 0
Stars within 32 Ly - 1
Messier objects - 0
Meteor showers - 0
Bordering
constellations
- Hydra
- Puppis
- Vela
- Antlia