| Constellation | |
List of stars in Dorado |
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| Abbreviation | Dor |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Doradus |
| Pronunciation | /dɒˈreɪdoʊ/, genitive /dɒˈreɪdəs/ |
| Symbolism | the swordfish |
| Right ascension | 5 h |
| Declination | −65° |
| Quadrant | SQ1 |
| Area | 179 sq. deg. (72nd) |
| Main stars | 3 |
| Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
14 |
| Stars with planets | 2 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 0 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 0 |
| Brightest star | α Dor (3.27m) |
| Nearest star | GJ 2036 (36.50 ly, 11.19 pc) |
| Messier objects | 0 |
| Meteor showers | None |
| Bordering constellations |
Caelum Horologium Reticulum Hydrus Mensa Volans Pictor |
| Visible at latitudes between +20° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January. |
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Dorado ( /dɒˈreɪdoʊ/) is a constellation in the southern sky. It was created in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), which is known as dorado in Spanish, although it has also been depicted as a swordfish. Dorado is notable for containing most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the remainder being in the constellation Mensa. The South ecliptic pole also lies within this constellation.
Even though the name Dorado is not Latin but Spanish, astronomers give it the Latin genitive form Doradus when naming its stars; they are treating it (like the adjacent constellation Argo Navis) as if it were a feminine proper name of Greek origin ending in -ō (like Io or Callisto or Argo), names that have a genitive ending in -ūs.
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Dorado was one of twelve constellations 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. Its first depiction in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603 where it was also named Dorado. The constellation was also known in the 17th and 18th century as Xiphias, the swordfish, first attested in Johannes Kepler's edition of Tycho Brahe's star list in the Rudolphine Tables of 1627. The name Dorado ultimately become dominant and was adopted by the IAU.
Because Dorado contains part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, it is rich in deep sky objects. All coordinates given are for Epoch J2000.0.
In Chinese astronomy, the stars of Dorado are located in two of Xu Guangqi's Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu): the White Patches Attached (夾白,Jiābái) and the Goldfish (金魚, Jīnyú ).[1]
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