Octans

Abbreviation: Oct
Genitive: Octantis
Right Ascension: 21.31 hours
Declination: -83.76 degrees

Octans, the Octant, is completely visible in latitudes South of the Equator, and is circumpolar.

Unlike its Northern counterpart; Ursa Minor; Octans does not contain any bright stars to aid to locating the South Celestial Pole. Oddly, an Octant is a device for determining position for navigation, even though the constellation was probably not used for navigation. Most navigational logs of the time, refer to the area as almostly completely devoid of stars.

Although, Amerigo Vespucci wrote that the stars of the Southern pole are brighter and more numerous than our own northern pole; he also recorded 20 some stars that were brighter than Venus and Jupiter, as to what he was actually referring to, is unknown, but it couldnt have been the stars of Octans.

The Arabs knew of Octans and thought it had healing powers similiar to Ursa Minor, if the observer intentently observed the constellation.

Octans was invented by Lacaille during his stay at the Cape of Good Hope between 1751 and 1752.

Bright Stars | Deep Sky | Other Deep Sky | Variable Stars | Double Stars

Best Known Stars

(Yale Bright Star Catalog)

Common Name or Bayer Number 1	RA	DEC	Magnitude 2
NU OCT	21.00:41.00:28.54	-77.00:23.00:24.18	3.76
BET OCT	22.00:46.00:3.35	-81.00:22.00:53.91	4.15
THE OCT	0.00:1.00:35.65	-77.00:3.00:56.56	4.78
EPS OCT	22.00:20.00:1.49	-80.00:26.00:23.17	5.10
ALP OCT	21.00:4.00:42.98	-77.00:1.00:25.52	5.15
CHI OCT	18.00:54.00:46.93	-87.00:36.00:21.21	5.28
ZET OCT	8.00:56.00:41.12	-85.00:39.00:47.25	5.42
IOT OCT	12.00:54.00:58.61	-85.00:7.00:24.08	5.46
SIG OCT	21.00:8.00:46.20	-88.00:57.00:23.38	5.47
TAU OCT	23.00:28.00:3.68	-87.00:28.00:56.19	5.49
RHO OCT	15.00:43.00:16.84	-84.00:27.00:54.93	5.57
KAP OCT	13.00:40.00:55.46	-85.00:47.00:9.66	5.58
UPS OCT	22.00:31.00:37.39	-85.00:58.00:2.30	5.77
ETA OCT	10.00:59.00:13.77	-84.00:35.00:37.91	6.19

Deep Sky Objects

(PAS Catalog)

Other Deep Sky Objects

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)

Only Objects less than 10.0 Mag.

Object	R.A.	Dec.	Object Type 3	Mag.	Uranometria	Tirion
Mel 227	20 12.1	-79 19	OPNCL	05.3	470	26

Variable Stars

(General Catalog of Variable Stars)

Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude

GCVS ID	R.A. (hh mm ss.ss)	Dec. (deg mm ss)	Variable Type 4	Mag. Min	Mag. Max
BP Oct	15.00:1.00:26.10	-87.00:56.00:53.00	DSCTC	0.04	6.46
BQ Oct	13.00:7.00:57.40	-89.00:31.00:17.00	LB:	0.10	6.80
CG Oct	22.00:20.00:21.90	-89.00:4.00:36.00	DSCTC	0.04	6.85
eps Oct	22.00:14.00:32.60	-80.00:41.00:24.00	SRB	5.30	4.58
sig Oct	20.00:15.00:3.00	-89.00:8.00:18.00	DSCTC	0.05	5.45

Double Stars

(Saguaro Astronomy Club Catalog)

Only Objects <= 8.0 magnitude

Name	R.A. (hh mm.m)	Dec. (deg mm)	Mag 5	Sep 6	PA 7	Tirion	Uranometria
DUN 82	09 33.2	-86 00	7.4, 8.0	15.60	273	25	473
DUN 232	20 41.6	-75 21	7.1, 7.6	17.00	18	26	470
HJ 5278	21 50.8	-82 43	5.5, 7.8	2.80	68	26	471