Constellations · Constellation · Columbae · Col
Constellation
Columba
Noah’s dove, flying back to the Ark with an olive branch. The Argo was just beside it, so perhaps it was the dove Jason released to test the Clashing Rocks.
- Genitive
- Columbae
- Area
- 270 square degrees · 54th of 88
- Brightest star
- Phact · magnitude 2.65
- Naked-eye stars
- 68 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- mid December
History
Petrus Plancius drew it in 1592 from stars south of Canis Major. Its brightest star, Phact, has an uncertain Arabic name that may mean “ring-dove”.
Did you know
The star Mu Columbae is fleeing in the opposite direction from AE Aurigae: 2.5 million years ago the two were thrown out of the same encounter in the Orion Nebula.