Chamaeleon
What is Chamaeleon?
Constellations· Southern sky, all year · a small quadrilateral near the pole. A chameleon drawn by Dutch navigators in the late 16th century. It is a small quadrilateral near the south celestial pole, in the direction of the Chamaeleon cloud where stars are still being born.
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Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Alpha Chamaeleontis | 4.1 |
The 1 brightest of the 2 stars used in the figure (1 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Constellation basics
| Season | circumpolar in the south, best Mar–Apr; never visible from London or New York |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | α Chamaeleontis, mag 4.1 |
| How to find | south of Crux, between Carina and the south celestial pole |
| Area rank | 79th of 88 |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Neither star nor planet — the lone wanderer Cha 110913 in Chamaeleon
In 2005 an object floating alone, attached to no star, was found in the Chamaeleon molecular cloud. It is called Cha 110913-773444. With about eight times the mass of Jupiter it is too light to be a star, yet it was surrounded by a disc of dust, the raw material for planets. That started a debate over whether it should be called a star or a planet.
Hundreds of these free-floating objects with the mass of planets are now known. Some may have formed alone from a collapsing cloud of gas, as stars do, while others may have been born beside a star and thrown out. Telling the two apart is still an open problem. This one is only about two million years old, so small bodies might still form in its disc.
Chamaeleon also holds one of the young star clusters nearest the Sun. The Eta Chamaeleontis cluster, about 300 light-years away, is a loose group of a dozen or so stars, first recognised through X-ray observations in 1999. At about eight million years old its stars still carry dusty discs, giving a close view of stars at the age when planets form.
The constellation in depth
Chamaeleon is one of twelve constellations that came from Dutch navigators' observations of the southern sky in the 1590s. It became widely known after it appeared in the German astronomer Bayer's star atlas of 1603. Old charts often showed the chameleon flicking its tongue toward the neighbouring Fly, Musca, as if about to catch it.
Its stars are all around fourth magnitude. About 500 light-years away in this direction, though, lies the Chamaeleon molecular cloud, a cold cloud of gas where new stars form. It is one of the star-forming regions nearest the Sun, and hundreds of newborn stars and brown dwarfs, objects too light to become true stars, have been found there.
At declinations of −75° to −83°, not far from the south celestial pole, it cannot be seen from Europe, the United States or Canada. From the southern hemisphere it never sets and is highest on March and April evenings. In the Sky view, set Sydney on an April evening and a small quadrilateral appears south of the Southern Cross, short of the pole.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Chamaeleon?
- Chamaeleon is best seen in circumpolar in the south, best Mar–Apr; never visible from London or New York.
- How do I find Chamaeleon?
- To find Chamaeleon, look for south of Crux, between Carina and the south celestial pole.
- What is the brightest star in Chamaeleon?
- The brightest star in Chamaeleon is Alpha Chamaeleontis, at magnitude 4.1.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.