Antlia

Antlia (/ˈæntliə/; from Ancient Greek ἀντλία) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name means "pump" and it specifically represents an air pump. The constellation was created in the 18th century from an undesignated region of sky, so the stars comprising Antlia are faint. Antlia is bordered by Hydra the sea snake, Pyxis the compass, Vela the sails, and Centaurus the centaur. This group of constellations is prominent in the southern sky in late winter and spring. NGC 2997, a spiral galaxy, and the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy lie within Antlia's borders. ... Stars. α Antliae is the constellation's brightest star at magnitude 4.25. It is a class M0 orange giant located 366 light years away from Earth. δ Antliae is a blue double star 481 light years away. The primary is of magnitude 5.6 and the secondary is of magnitude 9.6. ζ Antliae is a wide double star 373 light years away. The primary (ζ1 Ant) is of magnitude 5.8, though it is a double star with a primary of magnitude 6.2 and a secondary of magnitude 7.0. The secondary (ζ2 Ant) is of magnitude 5.9. Deep-sky objects. A composite image of NGC 2997. Because it occupies a part of the celestial sphere that faces away from the Milky Way, Antlia contains very few deep-sky objects. It contains no globular clusters, no planetary nebulae, and no open clusters. However, it does contain several galaxies. NGC 2997 is a loose face-on spiral galaxy of type Sc. It is the brightest galaxy in Antlia at an integrated magnitude of 10.6. Though nondescript in most amateur telescopes, it presents bright clusters of young stars and many dark dust lanes in photographs. The Antlia Dwarf, a 14.8m dwarf spheroidal galaxy that belongs to our Local Group of galaxies. It was discovered only as recently as 1997. [Antlia. Wikipedia]