Southern Pictor, southern Dorado, and eastern Pictor sprawl
from left to right
across the top of the picture (northern Dorado
seen along with northern Horologium,
western Reticulum with Hydrus,
northern Pictor with Puppis). Alpha Pictoris is the
bright star at left, Beta Dor the bright star at top center,
and Alpha Reticuli is the brightest at the upper right corner.
Delta Ret is to the right of Alpha, while Beta is below
Delta. Gamma Ret, not visible here because of its redness,
is just down and to the left of Delta.
Alpha Doradus is well off the picture up and to
the right of Beta Dor.
In the center is the faint glow of the Large Magellanic Cloud,
a nearby satellite galaxy to our own, located about 160,000 light years
away. Toward the bottom lie Volans, Mensa,
and Hydrus. The bright star toward lower right is Gamma Hydri.
Dorado contains the South Ecliptic Pole, the southern perpendicular
to the Ecliptic (the apparent solar path, which defines the Zodiac).
The North Galactic Pole is in Draco.
Photo by Greg Dimijian.
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