- Ara can refer to a genus of macaw.
Ara (Latin for Altar) is a faint southerly constellation between the constellations Centaurus and Lupus.
Notable features
Ara's brightest star, β Arae, has an apparent magnitude of 2,9. Its γ star is a double star just south of β. μ Arae is believed to have at least three planets orbiting it, one of which is thought to be rocky in nature.
Notable deep sky objects
The northwest corner of Ara is crossed by the Milky Way and contains several open clusters and diffuse nebulae. The brightest of the globular clusters, NGC 6397, is 8,200 light-years from our solar system and may be the closest such cluster.
History
This constellation was split off from Centaurus and Lupus by the interposition of Norma, which was created by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1790.
Mythology
The altar, usually depicted upside down, but sometimes upright with the smoke drifting into the Milky Way, was identified as that of the centaur Chiron; its original Latin name was Ara Centauri. It was also occasionally called the altar of Dionysus. Since, however, the constellation was identified, and introduced, in the 18th Century, connection to the this mythology is likely to have been by design of the constellation's creator, and unconnected to the actual beliefs of the ancient Greeks about this area of sky.
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