Carina (constellation)
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The constellation never sets for most of the southern hemisphere due to its proximity to the south celestial pole.[1] The southern constellation Carina includes Canopus, a white-hued bright giant with magnitude −0.72 that ranks as the night sky's second-brightest star.[2]
Key facts and history
Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into three sections in 1763, with Carina being the hull or keel.[3] Polynesian peoples had many names for Canopus but no name for the constellation itself.[4] Ancient Greece was where the Argo constellation first appeared.[3] Because Lacaille assigned only one set of Greek letters to the entire Argo, Carina ended up with α, β and ε, while Vela got γ and δ, and Puppis received ζ, and so forth.[3][5]
Within Carina, Eta Carinae stands out as the most notable variable star, having roughly 100 times the Sun's mass and 4 million times its luminosity.[6] French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille first spotted NGC 3372, the Carina Nebula, in 1751.[7]
What the cited sources add
Miaplacidus is the brightest star in the Diamond Cross and the second brightest star in Carina after Canopus.[8] Theta Carinae is a spectroscopic binary star with an apparent magnitude of 2.76 and is the brightest star in the IC 2602 cluster.[8] Miaplacidus, Theta, Upsilon, and Omega Carinae together form the Diamond Cross asterism.[8] Observers sometimes confuse the Diamond Cross with the Southern Cross located in Crux.[8]
The Toyota Carina automobile received its name from this constellation.[9][10]
References
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Stellarium 0.16.0, setting time to that year. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ridpath Tirion 2001, p. 104–106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ridpath Tirion 2001, p. 104–106; Delporte, "Delimitation scientifique des constellations (tables et cartes)", Cambridge University Press, 1930 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Makemson 1941, p. 201; Makemson 1941, p. 201; Makemson 1941, p. 201 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Wagman, "Lost Stars: Lost, Missing, and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas-Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others", McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, 2003 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ridpath Tirion 2001, p. 104–106; Levy 2005, p. 101; Ridpath Tirion 2001, p. 104–106 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Levy 2005, p. 101 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Diamond Cross", Constellation Guide. facts only, no text reused. constellation-guide.com
- "Vehicle Lineage: Carina Wagon Surf", 75 Years of TOYOTA, 2012. facts only, no text reused. toyota-global.com
- Wikipedia, "Carina (constellation)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Vehicle Lineage: Carina Wagon Surf", 75 Years of TOYOTA, 2012 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Carina (constellation) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Constellations
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Carina (constellation) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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