Dorado is a southern constellation that holds most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way visible to the naked eye.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 6 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Zeta Doradus, 38 light-years (11.6 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Beta Doradus, 1,010 light-years (309 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 27 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Dorado
Dorado was drawn from the observations of the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, and given form by Petrus Plancius. Its name is the Spanish and Portuguese word for the dolphinfish, the bright golden fish of warm seas, though it is often rendered in English as the Swordfish. It lies far south, between the bright star Canopus and the south celestial pole.
Its own stars are modest. Beta Doradus is one of the brightest Cepheid variables, a supergiant that swells and shrinks in a steady rhythm. Gamma Doradus gives its name to a class of gently pulsating stars. The south pole of the ecliptic, the point in the sky at right angles to the plane in which the planets orbit, also lies within its borders.
What makes Dorado famous lies far beyond its stars: the Large Magellanic Cloud, a whole galaxy, much smaller than ours, orbiting the Milky Way. Inside it glows the Tarantula Nebula, the most active star-forming region known in our group of galaxies, and there the brightest supernova since the invention of the telescope appeared.
What you see in the piece
Fly out with CONSTELLATIONS on and the swordfish falls apart: Zeta Doradus is a close neighbour while Beta Doradus lies very much farther off. The Large Magellanic Cloud behind them is so remote that it hardly shifts as you fly between the stars.
Questions
Which constellation is the Large Magellanic Cloud in?
Mostly in Dorado, with part of it spilling into neighbouring Mensa. It is visible to the naked eye from the southern hemisphere as a detached piece of the Milky Way.
How deep is the figure of Dorado?
The nearest star of the figure is Zeta Doradus, 38 light-years (11.6 pc) away, and the farthest is Beta Doradus, 1,010 light-years (309 pc): 27 × farther.