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Stars and Sticks| Abbreviation | Pup |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Stern of the Ship |
| Pronunciation Guide is based on “Pronouncing Astronomical Names,” published in 1943 by the American Astronomical Society. | PUP-iss |
| Genitive The genitive is the Latin possessive form used in star names. For example, Alpha Orionis means “the Alpha of Orion.” | PUP-is |
| Best Month | February |
| Visibility | Southern |
| Origin | AncientThese figures are rooted in the classical Greek and Mesopotamian traditions cataloged by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. |
| Author | Lacaille (Split) |
| Type | constellation |
| Difficulty | Moderate |
| Description | The Stern of the great ship Argo was one of three sections when Lacaille divided the enormous ancient constellation Argo Navis in the 1750s. Puppis lies in one of the richest regions of the Milky Way and contains an extraordinary density of open star clusters. The brightest star, Naos (Zeta Puppis), is one of the hottest and most luminous stars known — a blue O-type supergiant about 1,090 light-years away with a surface temperature around 42,000 Kelvin, seven times hotter than the Sun, and roughly 220,000 times more luminous. Naos is also a runaway star, likely ejected from a binary system when its companion exploded as a supernova thousands of years ago. |
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Images: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/E. Slawik · IAU and Sky & Telescope · Stellarium — Full credits →