Dorado
Constellation
Dorado
AbbreviationDor
GenitiveDoradus
Pronunciation/dəˈrd/, genitive /dəˈrdəs/
Symbolismthe dolphinfish
Right ascension5h
Declination−65°
QuadrantSQ1
Area179 sq. deg. (72nd)
Main stars3
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars
14
Stars with planets5
Stars brighter than 3.00m1
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)0
Brightest starα Dor (3.27m)
Messier objects0
Meteor showersNone
Bordering
constellations
Caelum
Horologium
Reticulum
Hydrus
Mensa
Volans
Pictor
Visible at latitudes between +20° and −90°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January.

Dorado (US: /dəˈrd/, also UK: /-ˈrɑːd/) is a constellation in the Southern Sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), which is known as dorado ("golden") in Spanish, although it has also been depicted as a swordfish. Dorado contains most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the remainder being in the constellation Mensa. The South Ecliptic pole also lies within this constellation.

Even though the name Dorado is not Latin but Spanish, astronomers give it the Latin genitive form Doradus when naming its stars; it is treated (like the adjacent asterism Argo Navis) as a feminine proper name of Greek origin ending in -ō (like Io or Callisto or Argo), which have a genitive ending -ūs.

History

See also: Early modern Netherlandish cartography

Dorado was one of twelve constellations named by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman.[1] It appeared:

Dorado represents a dolphinfish; it has also been called the goldfish because Dorado are gold-colored.[2]

In early 2020, TOI-700 d, the first Earth-sized exoplanet was discovered in Dorado by astronomers of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.

Features

The constellation Dorado as it can be seen by the naked eye

Stars

See also: List of stars in Dorado

Alpha Doradus is a blue-white star of magnitude 3.3, 176 light-years from Earth. It is the brightest star in Dorado. Beta Doradus is a notably bright Cepheid variable star. It is a yellow-tinged supergiant star that has a minimum magnitude of 4.1 and a maximum magnitude of 3.5. One thousand and forty light-years from Earth, Beta Doradus has a period of 9 days and 20 hours.[1]

R Doradus is one of the many variable stars in Dorado. S Dor, 9.721 hypergiant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, is the prototype of S Doradus variable stars. The variable star R Doradus 5.73 has the largest-known apparent size of any star other than the Sun.[3] Gamma Doradus is the prototype of the Gamma Doradus variable stars.

Supernova 1987A was the closest supernova to occur since the invention of the telescope. SNR 0509-67.5 is the remnant of an unusually energetic Type 1a supernova from about 400 years ago.

HE 0437-5439 is a hypervelocity star escaping from the Milky Way/Magellanic Cloud system.

Dorado is also the location of the South Ecliptic pole, which lies near the fish's head. The pole was called "Polus Doradinalis" by Philipp von Zesen, aka Caesius.[4]

Deep-sky objects

Because Dorado contains part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, it is rich in deep sky objects. The Large Magellanic Cloud, 25,000 light-years in diameter, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy, located at a distance of 179,000 light-years. It has been deformed by its gravitational interactions with the larger Milky Way. In 1987, it became host to SN 1987A, the first supernova of 1987 and the closest since 1604.[5] This 25,000-light-year-wide galaxy contains over 10,000 million stars.[1] All coordinates given are for Epoch J2000.0.

NGC 1566 is an intermediate spiral galaxy.[6]
LEDA 89996 is a classic example of a spiral galaxy.[7]

Equivalents

In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Dorado are in two of Xu Guangqi's Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu): the White Patches Attached (夾白, Jiābái) and the Goldfish (金魚, Jīnyú).[8]

Namesakes

Gallery

See also

References

Notes
Citations
  1. ^ a b c d Ridpath & Tirion 2017, pp. 142–143.
  2. ^ Ridpath, Ian. "Dorado". Star Tales. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  3. ^ "R Doradus". SIMBAD. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  4. ^ Allen, R. H. "Dorado". Star Names. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Wilkins & Dunn 2006.
  6. ^ "Grand swirls". Picture of the Week. ESA/Hubble. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  7. ^ "Galaxy with a view". Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  8. ^ (in Chinese) AEEA (Activities of Exhibition and Education in Astronomy) 天文教育資訊網 2006 年 7 月 27 日 Archived 2011-05-22 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Lonely Hearts Club". www.spacetelescope.org. Retrieved 28 October 2019.

Sources