Puppis is a group of stars.
It is in the far south sky. It used to be part of a big ship. Now it is its own part. You can look for it at night. Do you like to look at stars?
Puppis is a group of stars.
It is in the far south sky. Long ago, it was part of a big ship. This ship was called Argo Navis. Now, Puppis is its own part. It is the largest part of that old ship.
There are many groups of stars in this area. Some of these groups look like bright clouds. You can even find planets far away in this part of the sky. It is a very big and busy place to look at.
Puppis is a group of stars in the southern sky.
Its name means "stern." The stern is the back part of a ship. Long ago, Puppis was part of a much bigger group. That group was called Argo Navis. It was the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. This old ship group was very big. In 1752, a man named Nicolas Louis de Lacaille split it up. He made three new groups. Puppis is the largest of those three parts.
There are many things to find in Puppis. You can find open clusters. These are groups of stars that stay close together. One cluster is called M46. It is about 5,400 light-years away from Earth.
Scientists have also found many worlds there. These are called exoplanets. They are planets that orbit stars far away. For example, the star HD 70642 has a planet. That planet has a wide, circular path around its star. In 2006, scientists found three planets near the star HD 69830. These planets have a mass like Neptune. This was the first system found with many planets but no large gas giants like Jupiter.
Puppis is a group of stars in the southern sky.
Its name means "stern," which is the back part of a ship. Long ago, it was part of a huge constellation called Argo Navis. This group represented the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. Puppis is the largest of the three parts that the ship was split into. It is one of the 88 modern constellations. This group is very important for people who study the stars.
This constellation used to be much bigger than it is now. The old group, Argo Navis, was very large in the sky. It was about 28% larger than the next biggest constellation, Hydra. In 1752, a French astronomer named Nicolas Louis de Lacaille split it up. He divided the ship into three parts: Puppis, Carina, and Vela. Puppis was called "Argûs in puppi" by Lacaille. Later, John Herschel suggested a full division in 1844. The group officially became three separate constellations in 1922 and 1930.
Many interesting stars live within Puppis. One star is named Naos, which means "Greek ship." Another star is called Pipit, which is a traditional name from Kendayan. Some stars have names from Arabic, like Ahadi and Tureis. Ahadi means "having much promise." Tureis means "shield." There is also a star named Asmidiske, which is a Greek word for a ship's side. These names help us see the history of how people looked at the sky.
Scientists have found many distant worlds in this area. These are called exoplanets, or planets that orbit other stars. On July 1, 2003, a planet was found near the star HD 70642. This planet has a wide, circular orbit. In 2006, three Neptune-mass planets were found around HD 69830. This was the first system found with many planets but no huge gas giants. In 2008, two Jupiter-like planets were seen near HD 60532. These planets take different amounts of time to orbit their star.
Puppis is also home to many star clusters. These are groups of stars that stay close together. One cluster is called M46. It is about 5,400 light-years away from Earth. It is a rich cluster with 50 to 100 stars. Another cluster is M47, which you can see with just your eyes on dark nights. You can also find the bright cluster NGC 2451. These clusters make the southern sky look very bright and crowded with stars.
Puppis is a prominent constellation located in the southern sky. Its name means "stern," which refers to the back part of a ship. It is one of the 88 modern constellations officially recognized by the International Astronomical Union. This constellation is significant because it contains many deep-sky objects and diverse planetary systems.
Astronomers study this region to understand star formation and the variety of worlds orbiting distant suns.
Historically, Puppis was not a standalone constellation. It was originally a major section of a much larger constellation called Argo Navis. This massive group represented the ship of Jason and the Argonauts from Greek legend. The origins of Argo Navis can be traced to Greek texts derived from ancient Egypt around 1000 BC. In Egyptian astronomy, the group was known as the "Boat of Osiris." Because Argo Navis was so enormous, it required division. It was roughly 28% larger than Hydra, which is the next largest constellation.
The division of the great ship happened in stages. In 1752, the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille split Argo Navis into three parts. He created Puppis, which he called "Argûs in puppi," along with Carina and Vela. Carina represents the keel and hull, while Vela represents the sails. Lacaille kept a single set of Bayer designations for the whole group. This means Carina kept the alpha, beta, and epsilon stars, while Vela took gamma and delta. Puppis was assigned the zeta star and others. In 1844, John Herschel proposed a complete division of the group. The division became official in 1922, and Puppis was included in the modern IAU list in 1930.
Many stars within Puppis carry names that reflect diverse human histories. The star zeta Puppis is named Naos, a Greek word for ship. The star nu Puppis uses the traditional Kendayan name Pipit. Other stars carry Arabic names, such as pi Puppis, meaning "having much promise," and rho Puppis, meaning "shield." The star xi Puppis is named Asmidiske, which is Greek for "gunwale," the upper edge of a ship's side. Other stars have names like Nosaxa, which refers to the Mocoví springtime, or Tislit, a Moroccan name for a lake. These names connect the stars to various cultures across Earth.
Modern astronomers have discovered several fascinating extrasolar planet systems in this region. On July 1, 2003, a planet was found orbiting the star HD 70642. This planet has a wide, circular orbit with a long period. In May 2006, scientists found three Neptune-mass planets orbiting HD 69830. This was the first multi-planetary system discovered that lacked Jupiter-like or Saturn-like gas giants. This star also contains an asteroid belt between its middle and outer planets. In 2008, two Jupiter-like planets were found orbiting HD 60532. One planet, HD 60532 b, orbits at 0.759 AU and takes 201.3 days to orbit. The other, HD 60532 c, orbits at 1.58 AU and takes 604 days.
Other discoveries in Puppis show the violent and varied nature of space. In 2007, the first extrasolar planet in the open cluster NGC 2423 was found. This planet orbits the red giant star NGC 2423-3 at a distance of 2.1 AU. It has a mass at least 10.6 times that of Jupiter. In 2023, astronomers detected a collision between two ice giant exoplanets. These planets both have masses of tens of Earths. They collided around the star 2MASS J08152329-3859234, which is 300 million years old.
The constellation is also rich with deep-sky objects like open clusters. M46 is a circular open cluster located about 5,400 light-years from Earth. It contains between 50 and 100 stars with a moderate range of brightness. The planetary nebula NGC 2438 appears superimposed on M46 and is 2,900 light-years away. M47 is another open cluster that can be seen with the naked eye under dark skies. Other notable objects include the bright cluster NGC 2451 and the cluster near the star c Puppis. The star pi Puppis is part of a bright group called Collinder 135. These objects show how the Milky Way creates dense pockets of stars across the sky.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (2)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.