Constellation Chart

The Stern

Formerly, the lower southern sky in winter was occupied by a gigantic constellation "Argo Navis", the Argonauts' ship. The constellation had a span of over 70 degrees in east-west direction, and was the largest asterism in the heavens exceeding Hydra, which is presently the largest one. In the mid-18th century, Lacaille divided the older constellation into four smaller constellations: Carina, Pyxis, Vela, and Puppis. The constellation of Puppis represents the Stern of the Argo Navis. You can find it just southeast of Canis Major as a large and a bit warped square formed by 2nd or 3rd magnitudes. Puppis crosses the meridian at fairly lower sky in Japan, it might need clear sky to recognize the entire constellation.

Galaxy In Puppis

M47 (NGC2422)

This picture shows two open clusters about 13 degrees east of Sirius (alpha CMa), and with an interval of about 1.5 degree between them. East Side one is M46 (NGC2437), and another one is M47 (NGC2422). Scenery of those are extremely contrary, to say, M46 consists of plenty of fine stars, but M47 is the brighter and sparse, includes several fifth magnitude stars.

M46 (NGC2437)

Distances of M46 and M47 are about 5930 and 3740 light years respectively, they have no relation each other in the Galaxy space, we can appreciate these two in the almost same field by chance.

NGC2438

The image shows a tiny planetary nebula of NGC2438 floating in M46 with a diameter of about 68". The nebula is a remnant of star emitting gaseous matter in front of M46.

M93 (NGC2447)

At east of Canis Major, is an open cluster 2 degrees NW of zeta Puppis. The cluster looks like a dimmed nebula with binoculars, and comes to triangle-shaped stars being gathered through telescopes with medium-ranged magnification. Perhaps you'll have impression like a comet with a short tail.

The cluster is positioned at galactic latitude of zero, to say, just in center of the Milky Way in winter, there are plenty of faint stars around the cluster. M93 contains about 60 stars, and about 3600 light years away.

NGC2467

NGC2467 is an open cluster and surrounding nebulosity in the Milky Way of Puppis east neighbor of Canis Major. The nebula can be found out about 9.5 degrees just east from delta CMa at the waist of great dog. You can appreciate only sparse cluster with telescope, reddish nebula comes to sight only on the long exposed photographs. The nebula shows us a round and bright part in west region with a diameter of about 16 arc minutes, but actually the nebula has stretched very dimmed filaments eastward. In case of including this faint part, the nebula has a span of over 30 arc minutes.

NGC2451

A winter constellation of Puppis in which the Milky Way crosses includes many open clusters. This pair of NGC2451 and NGC2477 lies at the most southern position in the constellation. A very sparse cluster on the right hand side is NGC2451 and another one fine stars crowded is named NGC2477. NGC2451 contains about 50 member stars in about 45-arc minutes diameter, you can easily enjoy this cluster only with compact binoculars. The cluster has a visual magnitude of 3, so maybe some of member stars can be detected by naked eyes. NGC2477 is found at about 1.5 degrees ESE of NGC2451. You can see the cluster like nebulosity through binoculars, and you need a medium sized telescope to resolve individual stars. NGC2477 has a brightness of about 6th magnitude, it hardly can be seen by your eyes.

NGC2477

The constellation of Puppis has one more pair of open clusters of M46 and M47 in northern region. Both pairs has very different stellar density each other, it may be interesting to compare the impressive contrast of these cluster couples.

NGC 2440

NGC 2440 is another planetary nebula ejected by a dying star, but ithas a much more chaotic structure than NGC 2346. The central star ofNGC 2440 is one of the hottest known, with a surface temperature near200,000 degrees Celsius. The complex structure of the surrounding nebula suggests to some astronomers that there have been periodicoppositely directed outflows from the central star, somewhat similar to that in NGC 2346, but in the case of NGC 2440 these outflows have been episodic, and in different directions during each episode. The nebula is also rich in clouds of dust, some of which form long, dark streaks pointing away from the central star. In addition to the bright nebula, which glows because of fluorescence due to ultraviolet radiation from the hot star, NGC 2440 is surrounded by a much larger cloud of cooler gas which is invisible in ordinary light but can be detected with infrared telescopes. NGC 2440 lies about 4,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Puppis.

Gum Nebula

In lower southern sky in winter night, an extraordinary vast but dimmed ?gGum Nebula?h is spreading out with a size of 40 x 90 degrees. The nebula is positioned in the Milky Way of Puppis to Vela. The nebula with name of an astronomer, who investigated about the nebula, is considered a supernova remnant exploded about from 10 to 30 thousand years ago.

Planetary Destinations In Puppis

HD 70642 (G5IV-V)

Parent Star: HD 70642 (G5IV-V) in the constellation of Puppis is located at a distance of 94.58 Light Years from our Solar system Co-ordinates of Right Ascension: 08 21 28.1361 & Declination: -39 42 19.474. The apparent Magnitude of the star is 7.18. The Inner Edge of Habitability Zone is 0.55 AU & the Outer Edge of Habitability Zone: 1.74 AU. Orbiting around HD 70642 is planet HD 70642 b the planet is believed to be a Jupiter-twin and its exitence has been confirmed. The Planets Appearance is white ammonia and water ice clouds, brown hydrocarbon stains. The planet is positioned outside of the habitability zone at mean orbital distance of 3.3 AU. The planet Orbits around the star every 2231 ± 400 Days and was discovered by CARTER B., BUTLER P., TINNEY C., JONES H., MARCY G., FISCHER D., McCARTHY C. & PENNY A, in 2003.