Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Musca and Triangulum Australe.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The Compasses, a small southern constellation made by Lacaille in 1752.
Wiktionary
- n. astronomy A small constellation of the southern winter sky, said to resemble a compass. It lies between the constellations of Centaurus and Triangulum Australe.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a small faint constellation in the southern hemisphere near Musca and Triangulum Australe
Etymologies
- Named by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1763. From Latin circinus ("a pair of compasses") (Wiktionary)
- Latin circinus, pair of compasses, from circus, circle; see circle. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Located in the Circinus constellation, this spinning formation, which resembles a human hand, is about 100 light-years in diameter and about 17,000 light-years away from earth, according to NASA.”
The Huffington Post: PSR B1509-58 PICTURES: Rotating Pulsar Looks Like A Heavenly Hand (PHOTOS)
“Beta Circinus III, called Areta by its natives, is a Class M planet.”
“The galaxy should be on the opposite side of the Milky Way, somewhere in the constellations of Norma or Circinus, just west of the galactic center in”
“The remnant, called RCW 86, is located about 8200 light-years away towards the constellation of Circinus (the Drawing Compass).”
“Bauer noticed a bright, variable source in the Circinus spiral galaxy, using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.”
“This composite image shows the central regions of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located about 12 million light years away.”
“Circinus galaxy with SN 1996cr - click for 576×480 image”
“NASA This composite image shows the central regions of the nearby Circinus galaxy, located about 12 million light years away.”
“Bauer, who now is at Columbia University, and Brandt noticed the bright object in the nearby Circinus spiral galaxy when they made observations with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory during its first year in orbit.”
“The image is a composite of Chandra and Hubble data of the central regions of the Circinus galaxy, where a supernova went unnoticed but it was one of the five nearest in the past 25 years.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘Circinus’.
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Constellations
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognizes 88 official constellations.
Orion, Taurus, Andromeda, Aquila, Lyra, Boötes, Cygnus, Canis Major, Cassiopeia, Auriga, Lupus, Pyxis and 76 more...
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Beyond the stars
Tweets
Looking for tweets for Circinus.
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