Constellation Profile - Antlia

In the previous blog the constellations of Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille were discussed.  This great French astronomer mapped the southern stars and compiled an exhaustive record.  Through his work he devised 14 new constellations that have since become official.

The first one we will discuss in Antlia.  Antlia was originally named Antlia Pneumatica and is a representation of an 18th century air pump present in many scientific labs throughout Europe.  An image of an antique air pump is shown below.

Antlia (Air Pump)

The constellation contains relatively faint stars, much like Cancer in the North.  Most of the constellation is visible from Calgary in the mid-evening (11pm) from mid-March to mid-April.  It may require binoculars to see as it will be low in the southern horizon and its brightest star is only 4.28 magnitude.  I see a star-hopping path to the constellation in the early Spring.  I would start at Alpha Leonis (Regulus) in Leo and hop South to Alpha Hydrae (Alphard) then continue South the same distance but line up under Regulus again.  The map below may help you find it.

Star-hop to Antlia

I have not observed this constellation but have provided a log below consistent with my other observed constellations.

Antlia

A German astronomer by the name of Johann Bode published what is known as the Uranographia.  The Uranographia was a star atlas dedicated to showing the positions of the stars and supplying an artistic representation of the sky.  An image of Antlia from his work is shown below.

Uranographia Antlia

This image is an upgrade from Lacaille's original depiction shown below.

Lacaille's Antlia

There are various galaxies located throughout Antlia, the brightest being NGC 2997 at 10.6 magnitude.  There is even a galaxy cluster known as the Antlia Cluster consisting of a couple hundred galaxies.  It is the third closest galaxy cluster to our own Local Group and, unusually, contains no dominant galaxy.

It has been fun learning about some southern constellations when our own sky is cloudy.  Even if I may never have the opportunity to personally spend time under the southern hemisphere stars I can vicariously travel there with sky atlases and diaries of great astronomers.