Chamaeleon

Chamaeleon

Constellation
List of stars in Chamaeleon
Abbreviation	Cha
Genitive	Chamaeleontis
Pronunciation	/kəˈmiːliən/, genitive /kəˌmiːliˈɒntᵻs/
Symbolism	the Chameleon
Right ascension	07h 26m 36.5075s–13h 56m 26.6661s
Declination	−75.2899170°–−83.1200714°
Family	Bayer
Area	132 sq. deg. (79th)
Main stars	3
Bayer/Flamsteed stars	16
Stars with planets	1
Stars brighter than 3.00m	0
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly)	0
Brightest star	α Cha (4.05m)
Nearest star	α Cha (63.45 ly, 19.45 pc)
Messier objects	0
Meteor showers	None
Bordering constellations	Musca Carina Volans Mensa Octans Apus
Visible at latitudes between +0° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of April.

Chamaeleon (/kəˈmiːliən/) is a small constellation in the southern sky. It is named after the chameleon, a kind of lizard. It was first defined in the 16th century.

Chamaeleon was one of twelve constellations created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. It first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius. Johann Bayer was the first uranographer to put Chamaeleon in a celestial atlas. It was one of many constellations created by European explorers in the 15th and 16th centuries out of unfamiliar Southern Hemisphere stars.

There are four bright stars in Chamaeleon. Alpha Chamaeleontis is a white-hued star of magnitude 4.1, 63 light-years from Earth. Beta Chamaeleontis is a blue-white hued star of magnitude 4.2, 27 light-years from Earth. Gamma Chamaeleontis is a red-hued giant star of magnitude 4.1, 413 light-years from Earth. The other bright star in Chamaeleon is Delta Chamaeleontis, a wide double star. The brighter star is Delta² Chamaeleontis, a blue-hued star of magnitude 4.4, 364 light-years from Earth. Delta¹ Chamaeleontis, the dimmer component, is an orange-hued giant star of magnitude 5.5, 354 light-years away.

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Wikipedia