Microscopium

Microscopium /ˌmaɪkrəˈskɒpiəm/ is a small constellation in the southern sky, defined in the 18th century by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its brightest star is Gamma Microscopii of apparent magnitude 4.68, actually a yellow giant located around 381 light-years distant. Two star systems—WASP-7 and HD 205739—have been found to have planets, while another—AU Microscopii—has a debris disk. ... Microscopium is a small constellation bordered by Capricornus to the north, Piscis Austrinus and Grus to the west, Sagittarius to the east, Indus to the south, and touching on Telescopium to the southeast. The recommended three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is 'Mic'. ... Lacaille charted and designated ten stars with the Bayer designations Alpha through to Iota in 1756. A star in neighbouring Indus that Lacaille had labelled Nu Indi turned out to be in Microscopium, so Gould renamed it Nu Microscopii. The brightest star is Gamma Microscopii, which has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.68. It is a yellow giant of spectral class G6 III. Lying 381 light years away, It depicts the eyepiece of the microscope. Alpha Microscopii is also a yellow giant, though in this case a variable star, which ranges between apparent magnitudes 4.88 and 4.94. It is of spectral type G7III. Alpha has a 10th magnitude companion... Epsilon Microscopii lies 165 light years away, and is a blue-white main sequence star of apparent magnitude 4.7, and spectral type A1V. Theta1 and Theta2 Microscopii make up a wide double whose components are splittable to the naked eye. Both are white A-class magnetic spectrum variable stars with strong metallic lines, similar to Cor Caroli. They mark the constellation's specimen slide. Many notable objects are too faint to be seen with the naked eye. AX Microscopii, better known as Lacaille 8760, is a red dwarf which lies only 12.9 light years from our solar system. HD 205739 has a jupiter-sized planet. WASP-7 is a star of magnitude 9.54 which has been discovered to have an exoplanet WASP-7b, and AU Microscopii is a young star which appears to be a solar system in the making with a debris disk. BO Microscopii is a rapidly rotating star, and PSR J2144-3933 is an unusual pulsar with an unusually long rotation period. NGC 6925 is a barred spiral galaxy of apparent magnitude 11.3 which is lens-shaped as it lies almost edge on to us. It lies 3.7 degrees westnorthwest of Alpha Microscopii. NGC 6923 lies nearby and is a magnitude fainter still. [Microscopium. Wikipedia]