Pyxis the Compass on March nights

Pyxis: Angled line with three dots labeled with Greek letter star names. — Pyxis the Compass is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere that some northerners, surprisingly, can see on March evenings.

The constellation Pyxis the Compass

Pyxis the Compass is a constellation in the Southern Hemisphere that, surprisingly, some viewers in the Northern Hemisphere can see if they live at more southerly latitudes. Indeed, March is a good month to view Pyxis, regardless of the hemisphere you are in. The constellation lies southeast of Canis Major and Puppis.

Three stars connected by thin line. — View larger. | Pyxis the Compass is a dim constellation represented by three stars in a line. This is the view from the Southern Hemisphere. Image via Stellarium.

Small stylized constellation surrounded by larger constellations. — This is the view of Pyxis the Compass from the Southern Hemisphere. It’s between the constellations Puppis and Antlia in southern skies. Image via Stellarium.

How to find Pyxis

Also, Pyxis is another of the 14 constellations that Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille created. It represents a ship’s compass (not to be confused, however, with Circinus, a different constellation that represents a drawing compass). Conveniently, this ship’s compass lies next to the three constellations – Puppis, Vela and Carina – that make up the former constellation of Argo Navis the Ship.

Northerners, especially, will probably have an easier time finding Pyxis by using the familiar star Sirius in Canis Major and looking toward the east to the quiet part of the sky where Pyxis resides.

Three constellations outlined with a man standing in front of a city, pointing to the sky. — View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Prateek Pandey in Bhopal, India, captured this photo of Pyxis, Canis Major and Puppis on April 4, 2021. He wrote: “The evening show of the brightest stars.” Thank you, Prateek!

The stars of Pyxis the Compass

The Alpha and Beta stars of Pyxis lie in the southern part of the constellation. More specifically, Alpha Pyxidis is magnitude 3.68 and lies 845 light-years away. Likewise, just over two degrees to the south is Beta Pyxidis at magnitude 3.97 and lying 388 light-years away.

White chart with black dots marking stars. — The stars of Pyxis are difficult to see from a location with light pollution. For instance, Pyxis the Compass’s brightest star is a faint magnitude 3.68. Image via Wikimedia Commons.

In addition, both Alpha and Beta have faint star clusters lying a half degree to the northwest. Alpha’s star cluster is NGC 2658 at magnitude 9.2. Beta’s star cluster is NGC 2635 at magnitude 11.2. With this in mind, you’ll want binoculars or a telescope to track them down. NGC 2635 in particular is a true challenge.

However, there are two other deep-sky targets in Pyxis that are somewhat brighter. One is NGC 2627, a magnitude-8.4 star cluster lying 3 1/2 degrees northwest of Alpha, or just a 1/2 degree southwest of Zeta Pyxidis, a magnitude 4.86 star. The other, meanwhile, lies in the southeast corner of the constellation. NGC 2818 is a magnitude 8.19 grouping about 7 1/2 degrees east of Beta. Even better, though, is its planetary nebula, at magnitude 11.6, which we can see in the glorious Hubble photo, below.

Rainbow hues with teal at center and reddish outside with irregular, slightly conical shape. — The Hubble Space Telescope took this shot of the planetary nebula NGC 2818 in Pyxis in 2009. Image via NASA.

Bottom line: Pyxis the Compass is a constellation that lies in southern skies that Northern Hemisphere viewers can get a glimpse of in March. Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille created the constellation in the 18th century.

The post Pyxis the Compass on March nights first appeared on EarthSky.