Columba

Columba is among the dozen constellations introduced by Petrus Plancius which celebrate animals, in this case a dove. Specifically, it is identified as the dove released by Noah in the Biblical flood story to search for dry land.

It lies just behind the stern of the ship Argo Navis, which Plancius reinterpreted to be Noah’s Ark.

It can be found in the southern sky in the months around December, but is afaint constellation containing only two stars brighter than fourth magnitude.

It contains only one bright deep sky object, the globular cluster NGC 1851, which is designated C73 in the Caldwell catalogue.

In India Columba is known as ಕಪೋತ (Kapota)

Columba contains:

 

• Stars
  • Phact (mag 2.7)
  • Wazn (mag 3.1)
  • δ-Col (mag 3.8)
  • ε-Col (mag 3.9)
  • η-Col (mag 3.9)
  • γ-Col (mag 4.3)
  • κ-Col (mag 4.4)
  • O-Col (mag 4.8)
  • λ-Col (mag 4.9)
  • ξ-Col (mag 5.0)
  • θ-Col (mag 5.0)
  • μ-Col (mag 5.1)
  • HD 46568 (mag 5.3)
  • HD 38170 (mag 5.3)
  • ν²-Col (mag 5.3)
  • HD 46815 (mag 5.4)
  • HD 37811 (mag 5.4)
  • HD 36848 (mag 5.5)
  • π²-Col (mag 5.5)
  • HD 44506 (mag 5.5)
  • σ-Col (mag 5.5)
  • HD 43899 (mag 5.5)
  • HD 41047 (mag 5.5)
  • HD 36187 (mag 5.6)
  • HD 40091 (mag 5.6)
• Open Clusters
  None
• Globular Clusters
  • NGC 1851 (mag 7.3)
• Galaxy
  • NGC 1808 (mag 9.9)
  • NGC 1792 (mag 10.2)
  • NGC 2090 (mag 11.2)
  • NGC 2188 (mag 11.8)
  • NGC 1800 (mag 12.7)
  • IC 2158 (mag 12.9)
  • NGC 1879 (mag 13.1)
  • NGC 1827 (mag 13.3)
  • IC 2135 (mag 13.3)
  • IC 2150 (mag 13.6)
  • NGC 1812 (mag 13.6)
  • NGC 2049 (mag 13.7)
  • IC 2122 (mag 13.8)
  • NGC 1989 (mag 14.1)
  • NGC 2255 (mag 14.2)
  • NGC 1811 (mag 14.5)
  • IC 2153 (mag 14.7)
  • NGC 1992 (mag 14.7)