English name | Chameleon | ||||
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Major stars | No star of the constellation exceeds the magnitude 3,5. | ||||
Description | Small circumpolar constellation, to the south of Carina. Its brightest stars are of fourth magnitude. A remarkable star is delta Chamaeleontis, a double composed by two independent stars, the one blue and the other orange: very probably in 2000 years it will indicate the South Pole, currently contained by Octans. Interesting is also NGC 3195, a planetary nebula which to the telescope appears similar to Jupiter. |
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Mythology and history | The constellation was drawn by the Dutch navigators Pieters Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederik de Houtman towards the end of the XVI century. It represents the exotic animal of which it has the name. |