Tucana

Constellation

Represents a toucan, home to the Small Magellanic Cloud and the bright globular cluster 47 Tucanae.

Facts

TypeConstellation
Area of sky295 sq°
Brightest starLang-exster
Brightest star magnitudemag 2.85
HemisphereSouthern
Zodiac constellationNo
Discovered1597

Tucana in context

A constellation is a pattern drawn on the sky rather than a physical grouping: its stars are usually unrelated and sit at wildly different distances, just lined up as seen from Earth.

Tucana covers 295 square degrees of sky, which is 0.7 percent of the whole celestial sphere.

That makes it the 48th largest of the 88 constellations the International Astronomical Union recognises.

It sits in the southern sky.

Its brightest star reaches magnitude 2.85, bright enough to pick out with the naked eye under a dark sky.

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