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TUCANA
The Toucan
Tucana - Coelum Australe Stelliferum - Nicolai-Ludovici de la Caille - 1754
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Tucana, named for the large billed tropical bird, the toucan, was one of twelve southern constellations introduced by Dutchman Fredrick de Houtman in 1603, following an expedition to the Indonesian island of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. The constellation in its entirety is not visible above 13 degrees north latitude, but if you're far enough south, you'll be able to see one of the sky's true wonders: the Small Magellanic Cloud, otherwise known as NGC 292. To find Tucana, look for the brilliant first magnitude star Acherner, in the constellation Eridanus just to the east.
The Magellanic Clouds were named after the Portugese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, who observed them in 1519 as he was making history by sailing around the entire globe. They are irregular dwarf galaxies, containing hundreds of millions of stars, 210,000 light years away.
Right next to the SMC is the globular cluster NGC 104. It is the second largest globular cluster in the sky (after Omega Centauri), containing millions of stars. The cluster is 120 light years across, and 16,700 light years away. With a magnitude of 4.0, it is also the second brightest globular cluster in the sky, easily visible with the naked eye. It is so big and bright it was first named as a star, and is still carries the star name of Tucanae 47.
One of the many dazzling star clusters inside the Small Magellanic Cloud is the open clusterNGC 265, 65 light years across.
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