Constellation of Tucana
DMI image reference Tuc.    « Previous || Next » Constellations A » H || Constellations I » V
***
Roll mouse over picture to see constellation outlines
Image and text ©2008 Akira Fujii/David Malin Images.

In the picture above north is at the top and the image covers 28.6 x 35.7 degrees.
Image centre is located at 23:53:38.1, -63:06:32 (H:M:S, D:M:S, J2000) Astrometric data from Astrometry.net.

Tucana
Best seen in the early evening in November

Tucana, represents the Toucan (Rhamphastos toco, a large-billed tropical bird), and was named by Johann Bayer in 1603. It was also known to some astronomers as Anser Americanus, the American Goose, as late as the 1870s. The constellation is circumpolar (never sets) for most of the southern hemisphere, and lies south of Phoenix, bordering on Octans which includes the south celestial pole.

There are no named stars in Tucana, but it contains one of the finest globular clusters in the sky, 47 Tucanae (see below). This is named for a star but is easily seen to be diffuse with the unaided eye. By chance 47 Tuc is seen alongside the much more distant Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a satellite of the Milky Way.

Constellations adjoining Tucana: Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Octans, Phoenix.

Related images (other sources -- see under 'Related Images' on the pages below)
AAT 76.     NGC 104, the globular cluster 47 Tucanae
AAT 122.   The globular cluster NGC 362 in Tucana
UKS 17.     The Small Magellanic Cloud and 47 Tucanae

Milky Way & Crux | constellations, wide field | the constellations | planets & stars | binocular views
| star trails | solar eclipses | moon & lunar eclipses | comets & aurorae | Contact DMI

David Malin, 2017 April 29.