Antlia

Antlia
Constellation

Abbreviation Ant
Genitive Antliae
Pronunciation /ˈæntliə/, genitive /ˈæntlɪ.iː/
Symbolism the Air Pump[1]
Right ascension 09h 27m 05.1837s–11h 05m 55.0471s[2]
Declination −24.5425186°–−40.4246216°[2]
Family La Caille
Area 239 sq. deg. (62nd)
Main stars 3
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars		 9
Stars with planets 2
Stars brighter than 3.00m 0
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) 2
Brightest star α Ant (4.25m)
Nearest star DEN 1048-3956[3]
(13.17 ly, 4.04 pc)
Messier objects 0
Meteor showers None
Bordering
constellations		 Hydra
Pyxis
Vela
Centaurus
Visible at latitudes between +45° and −90°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of April.

Antlia (/ˈæntliə/; from Ancient Greek ἀντλία) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name means "pump" and it specifically represents an air pump. Abbreviated from Antlia Pneumatica, the constellation was introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. Located close to those forming the old constellation of the ship Argo Navis, Antlia is completely visible from latitudes south of 49 degrees north.

Antlia is a faint constellation; its brightest star is Alpha Antliae, an orange giant that is a suspected variable star, ranging between apparent magnitudes 4.22 and 4.29. Two star systems have known exoplanets. NGC 2997, a spiral galaxy, and the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy lie within Antlia's borders.

History

Johann Bode's depiction of Antlia.

The French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille first described the constellation in French as la Machine Pneumatique (the Pneumatic Pump) in 1751–52,[4][5] commemorating the air pump invented by the French physicist Denis Papin.[6] He had observed and catalogued almost 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the Cape of Good Hope, devising fourteen new constellations in uncharted regions of the Southern Celestial Hemisphere not visible from Europe. All but one honoured instruments that symbolised the Age of Enlightenment.[lower-alpha 1][7] Lacaille Latinised the name to Antlia pneumatica on his 1763 chart. John Herschel proposed shrinking the name to one word, which was universally taken up.[8]

Though Antlia was technically visible to ancient Greek astronomers, its stars were too faint to have been included in any constellations.[6] Because of this, its main stars have no particular pattern and it is devoid of bright deep-sky objects.[9] Lacaille and Johann Bode each depicted Antlia differently, as either the single-cylinder vacuum pump used in Papin's initial experiments, or the more advanced double-cylinder version.[6] The International Astronomical Union subsequently adopted it as one of the 88 modern constellations.[2] There is no mythology attached to Antlia as Lacaille discontinued the tradition of giving names from mythology to constellations and instead chose names mostly from scientific instruments.[6]

According to some, the most prominent stars that now comprise Antlia were once included within the ancient constellation Argo Navis, the Ship of the Argonauts, which due to its immense size was split into several smaller constellations by Lacaille in 1763.[10][11] However, given the faintness and obscurity of its stars, most authorities do not believe that the ancient Greeks included Antlia as part of their classical depiction of Argo Navis.[12]

In non-Western astronomy

Chinese astronomers were able to view what is modern Antlia from their latitudes, and incorporated its stars into two different constellations. Several stars in the southern part of Antlia were a portion of "Dong'ou", which represented an area in southern China.[6] Furthermore, Epsilon, Eta, and Theta Antliae were incorporated into the celestial temple, which also contained stars from modern Pyxis.[6]

Characteristics

Covering 238.9 square degrees and hence 0.579% of the sky, Antlia ranks 62nd of the 88 modern constellations by area.[13] Its position in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers south of 49°N.[13][lower-alpha 2] It is bordered by Hydra the sea snake to the north, Pyxis the compass to the west, Vela the sails to the south, and Centaurus the centaur to the east. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'Ant'.[14] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of twelve segments (illustrated in infobox). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 09h 26.5m and 11h 05.6m, while the declination coordinates are between −24.54° and −40.42°.[2]

Notable features

The constellation Antlia as it can be seen by the naked eye.

Stars

Lacaille gave nine stars Bayer designations, labelling them Alpha through to Theta, including two stars next to each other as Zeta. Gould later added a tenth, Iota Antliae. Beta and Gamma Antliae (now HR 4339 and HD 90156) ended up in the neighbouring constellation Hydra once the constellation boundaries were delineated in 1930.[15] Within the constellation's borders, there are 42 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5.[lower-alpha 3][13]

The constellation's brightest star,[9] Alpha Antliae is an orange giant of spectral type K4III that is a suspected variable star, ranging between apparent magnitudes 4.22 and 4.29.[17] It is located 370 ± 20 light-years away from Earth.[18] Estimated to be shining with around 480 to 555 times the luminosity of the Sun, it is most likely an ageing star that is brightening and on its way to becoming a Mira variable star, having converted all its core fuel into carbon.[19] Located near Alpha is Delta Antliae, a binary star , 430 ± 30 light-years distant from Earth.[18] The primary is a blue-white main sequence star of spectral type B9.5V and magnitude 5.6 and the secondary is an yellow-white main sequence star of spectral type F9Ve and magnitude 9.6.[20]

Zeta Antliae is a wide optical double star. The brighter star—Zeta1 Antliae—is 410 ± 40 light-years distant and has a magnitude of 5.74,[18] though it is a true binary star system composed of two white main sequence stars of magnitudes 6.20 and 7.01 that are separated by 8.042 arcseconds.[21] The fainter star—Zeta2 Antliae—is 380 ± 20 light-years distant[18] and of magnitude 5.9.[22] Eta Antliae is another double composed of a yellow white star of spectral type F1V and magnitude 5.31, with a companion of magnitude 11.3.[21] Theta Antliae is likewise double, most likely composed of an A-type main sequence star and yellow giant.[23]

Located 710 ± 40 light-years from Earth,[18] Epsilon Antliae is an evolved orange giant star of spectral type K3 IIIa, that has swollen to have a diameter around 69 times that of the Sun,[24] and a luminosity of around 1279 Suns.[25] It is slightly variable.[26] At the other end of Antlia, Iota Antliae is likewise an orange giant of spectral type K1 III.[27]

T Antliae is a yellow-white supergiant of spectral type F6Iab and Classical Cepheid variable ranging between magnitude 8.88 and 9.82 over 5.9 days.[28] U Antliae is a red C-type carbon star and is an irregular variable that ranges between magnitudes 5.27 and 6.04.[29] Around 900 light-years distant, it is around 5819 times as luminous as the Sun.[25] BF Antliae is a Delta Scuti variable that varies by 0.01 of a magnitude.[30]

HR 4049, also known as AG Antliae, is an unusual hot variable ageing star of spectral type B9.5Ib-II. It is undergoing intense mass-loss[31] and is a unique variable, ranging between magnitudes 5.29 and 5.83 with a period of 429 days[32] UX Antliae is an R Coronae Borealis variable with a baseline apparent magnitude of around 11.85, with irregular dimmings down to below magnitude 18.0.[33] A luminous and remote star, it is a supergiant with a spectrum resembling that of a yellow-white F-type star but it has almost no hydrogen.[34]

HD 93083 is an orange dwarf star of spectral type K3V that is smaller and cooler than the Sun. It has a planet that was discovered by the radial velocity method with the HARPS spectrograph in 2005. About as massive as Saturn, the planet orbits its star with a period of 143 days at a mean distance of 0.477 AU.[35] WASP-66 sunlike star of spectral type F4V. A planet with 2.3 times the mass of Jupiter that takes 4 days to complete an orbit was discovered by the transit method in 2012.[36]

DEN 1048-3956 is a brown dwarf of spectral type M8 located around 13 light-years distant from Earth. At magnitude 17 it is much too faint to be seen with the unaided eye. It has a surface temperature of around 2500 K. Two powerful flares lasting 4–5 minutes each were detected in 2002.[37] 2MASS 0939-2448 is a system of two cool and faint brown dwarfs; either with effective temperatures of about 500 and 700 K and masses of about 25 and 40 times that of Jupiter, it is also possible that it is a pair of identical objects with temperatures of 600 K and 30 Jupiter masses.[38]

Deep-sky objects

A composite image of NGC 2997.

Antlia contains many faint galaxies,[39] the brightest of which is NGC 2997 at magnitude 10.6.[9] It is a loose face-on spiral galaxy of type Sc. Though nondescript in most amateur telescopes, it presents bright clusters of young stars and many dark dust lanes in photographs.[22] The Antlia Dwarf, a 14.8m dwarf spheroidal galaxy that belongs to the Local Group of galaxies. It was discovered only as recently as 1997.[40]

The Antlia Cluster, also known as Abell S0636, is a cluster of galaxies located in the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster. It is the third nearest to the Local Group after the Virgo Cluster and Fornax Cluster.[41] The cluster's distance from earth is 40.5 Mpc (132.1 Mly) to 40.9 Mpc (133.4 Mly)[42] Located in the southeastern corner of the constellation, it boasts the giant elliptical galaxies NGC 3268 and NGC 3258 as the main members of a southern and northern subgroup respectively, and contains around 234 galaxies in total.[39]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ The exception is Mensa, named for the Table Mountain. The other thirteen (alongside Antlia) are Caelum, Circinus, Fornax, Horologium, Microscopium, Norma, Octans, Pictor, Pyxis, Reticulum, Sculptor and Telescopium.[7]
  2. ↑ While parts of the constellation technically rise above the horizon to observers between the 49°N and 65°N, stars within a few degrees of the horizon are to all intents and purposes unobservable.[13]
  3. ↑ Objects of magnitude 6.5 are among the faintest visible to the unaided eye in suburban-rural transition night skies.[16]

Citations

  1. ↑ Bakich, Michael E. (1995). The Cambridge Guide to the Constellations. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-44921-2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Antlia, constellation boundary". The Constellations (International Astronomical Union). Retrieved 14 February 2014.
  3. ↑ "The 100 Nearest Star Systems". Research Consortium on Nearby Stars. 1 January 2012. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. ↑ Ridpath, Ian. "Lacaille’s Southern Planisphere of 1756". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  5. ↑ Lacaille, Nicolas Louis (1756). "Relation abrégée du Voyage fait par ordre du Roi au cap de Bonne-espérance". Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Sciences (in French): 519–592 [589].
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ridpath, Ian. "Antlia". Star Tales. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  7. 1 2 Wagman 2003, pp. 5–6.
  8. ↑ Wagman 2003, p. 25.
  9. 1 2 3 Moore & Tirion 1997
  10. ↑ Peter Birren (2002) Objects in the Heavens, pp. 9, 45 (ISBN 155369662X).
  11. ↑ Webb, Thomas William (1962). Celestial objects for common telescopes 2. New York, New York: Dover Publications. p. 36. ISBN 9780486209180.
  12. ↑ Ian Ridpath (2002) Stars and Planets, pp, 65, 122. (ISBN 0-7894-8988-0)
  13. 1 2 3 4 Ridpath, Ian. "Constellations: Andromeda–Indus". Star Tales. self-published. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  14. ↑ Russell, Henry Norris (1922). "The New International Symbols for the Constellations". Popular Astronomy 30: 469. Bibcode:1922PA.....30..469R.
  15. ↑ Wagman 2003, p. 29.
  16. ↑ Bortle, John E. (February 2001). "The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Watson, Christopher (18 January 2010). "Alpha Antliae". AAVSO Website. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 van Leeuwen, F. (2007). "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction". Astronomy and Astrophysics 474 (2): 653–64. arXiv:0708.1752. Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357.
  19. ↑ Kaler, James B. "Alpha Antliae". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  20. ↑ Huélamo, N.; Neuhäuser, R.; Stelzer, B.; Supper, R.; Zinnecker, H. (July 2000). "X-ray emission from Lindroos binary systems". Astronomy & Astrophysics 359: 227–41. arXiv:astro-ph/0005348. Bibcode:2000A&A...359..227H.
  21. 1 2 Eggleton, P. P.; Tokovinin, A. A. (September 2008). "A catalogue of multiplicity among bright stellar systems". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 389 (2): 869–79. arXiv:0806.2878. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.389..869E. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13596.x.
  22. 1 2 Ridpath 2001, pp. 74–76
  23. ↑ Kaler, James B. (12 April 2013). "Theta Antliae". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 25 March 2016.
  24. ↑ Pasinetti-Fracassini, L.E.; Pastori, L.; Covino, S.; Pozzi, A. (February 2001). "Catalogue of Stellar Diameters (CADARS)". Astronomy and Astrophysics 367: 521–24. arXiv:astro-ph/0012289. Bibcode:2001A&A...367..521P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20000451.
  25. 1 2 McDonald, I.; Zijlstra, A. A.; Boyer, M. L. (2012). "Fundamental Parameters and Infrared Excesses of Hipparcos Stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 427 (1): 343–57. arXiv:1208.2037. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.427..343M. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21873.x.
  26. ↑ Koen, Chris; Eyer, Laurent (March 2002). "New Periodic Variables from the Hipparcos Epoch Photometry". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 331 (1): 45–59. arXiv:astro-ph/0112194. Bibcode:2002MNRAS.331...45K. doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05150.x.
  27. ↑ "Iota Antliae". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  28. ↑ Watson, Christopher (4 January 2010). "T Antliae". AAVSO Website. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  29. ↑ Otero, Sebastian (3 November 2011). "U Antliae". AAVSO Website. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  30. ↑ Chang, S.-W.; Protopapas, P.; Kim, D.-W.; Byun, Y.-I. (2013). "Statistical Properties of Galactic δ Scuti Stars: Revisited". The Astronomical Journal 145 (5): 10. arXiv:1303.1031. Bibcode:2013AJ....145..132C. doi:10.1088/0004-6256/145/5/132. 132.
  31. ↑ Geballe, T. R.; Noll, K. S.; Whittet, D. C. B.; Waters, L. B. F. M. (1989). "Unusual features of the 1–4 micron spectrum of HR 4049". The Astrophysical Journal 340: L29. Bibcode:1989ApJ...340L..29G. doi:10.1086/185431.
  32. ↑ VSX (4 January 2010). "AG Antliae". The International Variable Star Index. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  33. ↑ Otero, Sebastian (23 November 2012). "UX Ant". The International Variable Star Index. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  34. ↑ Kilkenny, D.; Westerhuys, J. E. (1990). "Spectroscopy of 'RCB' stars-IV. UX ANT". The Observatory 110: 90–92. Bibcode:1990Obs...110...90K.
  35. ↑ Lovis, C.; Mayor, M.; Bouchy, F.; Pepe, F.; Queloz, D.; Santos, N.C.; Udry, S.; Benz, W.; Bertaux, J.-L.; Mordasini, C.; Sivan, J.-P. (2005). "The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets III. Three Saturn-mass planets around HD 93083, HD 101930 and HD 102117". Astronomy and Astrophysics 437 (3): 1121–26. arXiv:astro-ph/0503660. Bibcode:2005A&A...437.1121L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20052864.
  36. ↑ Hellier, Coel; Anderson, D. R.; Collier Cameron, A.; Doyle, A. P.; Fumel, A.; Gillon, M.; Jehin, E.; Lendl, M.; Maxted, P. F. L.; Pepe, F.; Pollacco, D.; Queloz, D.; Ségransan, D.; Smalley, B.; Smith, A. M. S.; Southworth, J.; Triaud, A. H. M. J.; Udry, S.; West, R. G. (2012). "Seven transiting hot Jupiters from WASP-South, Euler and TRAPPIST: WASP-47b, WASP-55b, WASP-61b, WASP-62b, WASP-63b, WASP-66b and WASP-67b". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 426 (1): 439–50. arXiv:1204.5095. Bibcode:2012MNRAS.426..739H. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21780.x.
  37. ↑ Burgasser, Adam J.; Putman, Mary E. (June 10, 2005). "Quiescent Radio Emission from Southern Late-Type M Dwarfs and a Spectacular Radio Flare from the M8 Dwarf DENIS 1048–3956". The Astrophysical Journal 626 (1): 486–497. arXiv:astro-ph/0502365. Bibcode:2005ApJ...626..486B. doi:10.1086/429788.
  38. ↑ Leggett, S. K.; Cushing, Michael C.; Saumon, D.; Marley, M. S.; Roellig, T. L.; Warren, S. J.; Burningham, Ben; Jones, H. R. A.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.; Lodieu, N.; Lucas, P. W.; Mainzer, A. K.; Martín, E. L.; McCaughrean, M. J.; Pinfield, D. J.; Sloan, G. C.; Smart, R. L.; Tamura, M.; Van Cleve, J. (2009). "The Physical Properties of Four ~600 K T Dwarfs". The Astrophysical Journal 695 (2): 1517–1526. arXiv:0901.4093. Bibcode:2009ApJ...695.1517L. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/695/2/1517.
  39. 1 2 Streicher, Magda (2010). "Deepsky Delights: Antlia, the Machine Pneumatique". Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa 69 (5–6): 107–12. Bibcode:2010MNSSA..69..107S.
  40. ↑ Nemiroff, Robert (23 April 1997). "Antlia: A New Galactic Neighbor". Astronomy Picture of the Day. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  41. ↑ Smith Castelli, Analía V.; Bassino, Lilia P.; Richtler, Tom; Cellone, Sergio A.; Aruta, Cristian; Infante, Leopoldo (June 2008). "Galaxy populations in the Antlia cluster – I. Photometric properties of early-type galaxies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 386 (4): 2311–22. arXiv:0803.1630. Bibcode:2008MNRAS.386.2311S. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.13211.x.
  42. ↑ Dirsch, B.; Richtler, T.; Bassino, L.P. (2003). "The globular cluster systems of NGC 3258 and NGC 3268 in the Antlia cluster". Astronomy and Astrophysics 408: 929–39. arXiv:astro-ph/0307200. Bibcode:2003A&A...408..929D. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20031027.

Sources

  • Moore, Patrick; Tirion, Wil (1997), Cambridge Guide to Stars and Planets (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-58582-1 
  • Ridpath, Ian (2001), Stars and Planets Guide, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-08913-2 
  • Ridpath, Ian (2007), Stars and Planets Guide, Wil Tirion (4th ed.), Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-13556-4 
  • Wagman, Morton (2003). Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others. Blacksburg, VA: The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-939923-78-6. 

External links

Coordinates: 10h 00m 00s, −30° 00′ 00″

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