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DORADO
The Dolphinfish
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Dorado is the Latin name for the dolphinfish (Coryphaena hippurus), commonly known as the mahi mahi, a large, predatory, blunt-nosed fish abundant in tropical waters, and prized for its flavorful meat. Its figure was added to the southern constellations by Dutchman Frederick de Houtman during his journey to the southern seas of the Indian Ocean in 1603, and as you can see in the star chart below, the stars really do form the shape of this distinctive fish.
Dorado is a southern constellation not visible north of 16 degrees north latitude. This means that northern observers miss out on one of the most impressive sights in the night sky: the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The LMC is an irregular dwarf galaxy that has the distinction of being the closest observable galaxy to Earth. At a distance of 180,000 light years, it is one of the most distant objects visible with the naked eye. There is a smaller, closer dwarf galaxy in Sagittarius, and another in Canis Major, but both of these are hidden from view on the other side of the Milky Way, and both are in the process of being pulled in and absorbed by our Milky Way galaxy. The LMC is 14,000 light years across, spilling into the adjacent constellation of Mensa. In the ESO photo below the LMC is in the upper left. In the lower right is the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), and globular cluster NGC 104, in the constellation Tucana.
Being so close and accessible, the LMC provides a unique opportunity for astronomers to examine the dynamics at work inside a galaxy, and it has been studied closely. So much has been discovered, including 60 globular clusters, 400 planetary nebulae, and 700 open clusters, a labeled map of the galaxy has been put together by the European Southern Observatory to help us find our way around. Click on the image below for a larger, easy to read version.
The largest and most conspicuous object inside the LMC is NGC 2070, The Tarantula Nebula. An area of vigorous and violent star formation 1,000 light years across, the nebula is truly vast, and has been described by some as a frightening sight.
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