Columba
Pic
- Abbreviation:
- Col
- English name:
- Dove
- Coordinates
- see Stellar
data
Coordonnées Céleste
Particulars:
- Runaway star mu Col
- Globular cluster NGC 1851
General:
A constellation of the southern hemisphere and a member of the
"Heavenly Waters" constellation family. Columba is
thought to be the dove following along after Noah's Ark.
Stars and other objects
There are only two objects worth to be mentioned. Neither of
them is of interest to amateur astronomers:
- The blue 5 mag star mu Col is one of the three
so-called "runaway stars". These seem to be
diverging from a point of Orion with a speed of around
100 km/s. The other two stars are AE Aur and 53
Ari. There is a theory claiming that these stars once
belonged to a quadruple star system, of which the forth
member exploded in a supernova, about three millions
years ago, and therefore pushed away the other three
stars in different directions.
- The globular cluster NGC 1851 is located very
close to DECL=-40 degrees.