Carina constellation
Latin Carina, genitive Carinae, abbreviation Car
North up, east to the left, as you see the sky. The lines are a common figure; the stars are from the catalogue.
The myth
The keel of the Argo, the Argonauts' ship. Its bright star Canopus, named after Menelaus' helmsman, is the second brightest star of the night sky; spacecraft long used it to find their bearings. With stars of the Sails it forms the False Cross, which the unwary mistake for the Southern Cross. Canopus never rises for Europe.
When can Carina be seen?
It stands highest around 10 pm in March. It can be seen from everywhere south of 19°N, and it never sets south of 47°S.
The brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Canopus | α Car | −0.72 | white |
| Miaplacidus | β Car | 1.68 | white |
| Avior | ε Car | 1.86 | orange |
| Aspidiske | ι Car | 2.25 | white |
| – | θ Car | 2.76 | bluish |
| – | υ Car | 3.01 | white |
| – | ω Car | 3.32 | bluish |
| – | χ Car | 3.47 | bluish |
The smaller the number, the brighter: below 1 are the brightest stars of the sky, 4 is hard to see under a city sky. Greek letters after Johann Bayer (1603).