Pyxis
- Water snake
- Aft deck of the ship
- Sailing of the ship
- Air pump
The ship's compass (Latin Pyxis ) is a constellation of the southern sky.
Description
The ship's compass is an inconspicuous constellation south of the water snake ( Hydra ). Only one of his star is brighter than the fourth magnitude.
Due to the ship's compass, the band of the Milky Way is pulling with two open clusters.
History
The constellation was introduced in 1756 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. He positioned it west of the then still complete ancient constellation Argo Navis, the ship of the Argonauts. In 1763 he shared the vast ship in three separate constellations, the aft deck of the ship ( Puppis ), the sail of the ship ( Vela ) and the keel of the ship ( Carina ).
The areas between sails and compass star were formerly known as mast (Malus ). See in ship Argo.
Celestial objects
Stellar Objects
α Pyxidis is a 1200 light years distant star of spectral type B2 III.