Tucana

Tucana is also an alternate name for the Tucano language.

Tucana

Constellation
List of stars in Tucana
Abbreviation	Tuc
Genitive	Tucanae
Pronunciation	/tjʊˈkeɪnə/, genitive /tjʊˈkeɪniː/
Symbolism	the Toucan
Right ascension	0
Declination	−65
Area	295 sq. deg. (48th)
Main stars	3
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	17
Stars with known planets	3
Bright stars	1
Nearby stars	1
Brightest star	α Tuc (2.87m)
Nearest star	ζ Tuc (28.03 ly)
Messier objects	None
Bordering constellations	Grus Indus Octans Hydrus Eridanus (corner) Phoenix
Visible at latitudes between +25° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of November.

Tucana is a constellation in the southern sky, created in the sixteenth century. Its name is Latin for the toucan, a South American bird.

History

The constellation was one of twelve created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603.

Notable features

Stars

Beta Tucanae is in fact a group of six stars which appear to be at least loosely bound into a system. The two brightest of these, Beta-1 Tucanae and Beta-2 Tucanae, are 27 arcseconds apart and have magnitudes of between 4 and 5. They are (probably) accompanied by a third star, Beta-3 Tucanae, which is further away, separated by 9 arcminutes from them.

Kappa Tucanae is a group of four stars: two binary stars.

Lambda Tucanae is an optical double - that is, the name is give to two stars which appear close together from our viewpoint, but are in fact far apart in space. The two stars are known as Lambda 1 and Lambda 2. Lambda 1 is itself a binary star, with two components.

Deep sky objects

At the southern end of Tucana lies the Small Magellanic Cloud. The globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) is also located within its boundaries, as is the Tucana Dwarf galaxy, which was discovered in 1990. NGC 346 is also star forming region.

References

• Ian Ridpath and Wil Tirion (2007). Stars and Planets Guide, Collins, London. ISBN 978-0007251209. Princeton University Press, Princeton. ISBN 978-0691135564.

External links

• The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Tucana
• Star Tales – Tucana

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tucana

Coordinates: 00^h 00^m 00^s, −65° 00′ 00″

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