Dorado in the context of IAU designated constellations


Dorado in the context of IAU designated constellations

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⭐ Core Definition: Dorado

Dorado (US: /dəˈrd/, also UK: /-ˈrɑːd/) is a constellation in the Southern Sky. It was named in the late 16th century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations. Its name refers to the mahi-mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), which is known as dorado ("golden") in Spanish, although it has also been depicted as a swordfish. Dorado contains most of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the remainder being in the constellation Mensa. The South Ecliptic pole also lies within this constellation.

Even though the name Dorado is not Latin but Spanish, astronomers give it the Latin genitive form Doradus when naming its stars; it is treated (like the adjacent asterism Argo Navis) as a feminine proper name of Greek origin ending in -ō (like Io or Callisto or Argo), which have a genitive ending -ūs.

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Dorado in the context of Alpha Doradus

Alpha Doradus, Latinized from α Doradus, is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Dorado. The distance to this system, as measured using the parallax method, is about 169 light-years (52 parsecs).

This is a binary star system with an overall apparent visual magnitude that varies between 3.26 and 3.30, making this one of the brightest naked-eye binary stars. The system consists of a subgiant star of spectral type B revolving around a giant star with spectral type A in an eccentric orbit with a period of about 12 years. The orbital separation varies from 2 astronomical units at periastron to 17.5 astronomical units at apastron. The primary, α Doradus A, is a chemically peculiar star whose atmosphere displays an abnormally high abundance of silicon, making this an Si star.

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Dorado in the context of R Doradus

R Doradus (HD 29712 or P Doradus) is a red giant variable star in the far-southern constellation Dorado, close to the border with Reticulum. Its distance from Earth is 178 light-years (55 parsecs). Having a uniform disk diameter of 57±mas, it is thought to be the extrasolar star with the largest apparent size as viewed from Earth.

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