- Tucana
: "Tucana is also an alternate name for the
Tucano language ."Infobox Constellation
name = Tucana
abbreviation = Tuc
genitive = Tucanae
symbology = theToucan
RA = 0
dec= −65
areatotal = 295
arearank = 48th
numbermainstars = 3
numberbfstars = 17
numberstarsplanets = 2
numberbrightstars = 1
numbernearbystars = 1
brighteststarname = α Tuc
starmagnitude = 2.87
neareststarname = ζ Tuc
stardistance = 28.03
numbermessierobjects = None
meteorshowers =
bordering = Grus
IndusOctans Hydrus
Eridanus (corner)
Phoenix
latmax = 25
latmin = 90
month = November
notes=Tucana (pronEng|tuːˈkɑːnə/, /-ˈkeɪnə/, /-ˈkænə, _la. '
Toucan ') is a southernconstellation . The constellation was one of twelve constellations created byPieter Dirkszoon Keyser andFrederick de Houtman between1595 and1597 .Johann Bayer copied the twelve southern constellations from a Plancius/Hondius globe in his1603 "Uranometria " star atlas.The majority of the constellations were named after various creatures that the 16th century explorers had encountered (e.g. Bird of Paradise, Chameleon, Toucan, Flying Fish) and there is no earlier mythology associated with them.
Notable features
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 Tucanae A and Beta Tucanae C, are 27arcsecond s apart and have magnitudes of between 4 and 5. They are accompanied by a third star which is further away, separated by 9arcminute s 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.Notable deep sky objects
At the southern end of Tucana lies the
Small Magellanic Cloud . Theglobular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) is also located within its boundaries, as is theTucana Dwarf galaxy, which was discovered in 1990.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
* [http://www.allthesky.com/constellations/tucana/constell.html The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Tucana]
* [http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/tucana.htm Star Tales – Tucana]
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