Other Definitions
antlia (dict)
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AntliaThe constellation Antlia (Latin for pump) is a relatively new constellation as it was only created in the 18th century, being too faint to be acknowledged by the ancient greeks. The IAU adopted it as one of the 88 modern constellations. Beginning at the north, Antlia is surrounded by the sea monster Hydra, the compass Pyxis, the sails (Vela) of the mythological ship Argo and finally the centaur Centaurus. Notable features Antlia is a faint constellation void of bright stars. Its least faint star is: - α Ant: being Antlia's principal star its apparent brightness is still only 4.25 mag. Its spectral class is K4 III
Notable deep sky objects History The French astronomer Abb Nicolas Louis de La Caille created 13 constellations for the southern sky to fill some star poor regions, among them Antlia. It was originally denominated Antlia pneumatica (Latin for the air pump invented by Robert Boyle) which is why in English this constellation is also often called Air Pump. It is interesting to note that no attempt seems to have been made to assign Bayer letters according to their apparent brightness. There is no mythology attached to Antlia as La Caille discontinued the tradition of giving names from mythology to constellations and instead chose mostly names of instruments used in science.
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