The Constellation Columba
Columba is among the dozen constellations introduced by Petrus Plancius which celebrate animals, in this case a dove. Specifically, it is identified as the dove released by Noah in the Biblical flood story to search for dry land.
It lies just behind the stern of the ship Argo Navis, which Plancius reinterpreted to be Noah's Ark.
It can be found in the southern sky in the months around December, but is a faint constellation containing only two stars brighter than fourth magnitude.
It contains only one bright deep sky object, the globular cluster NGC 1851, which is designated C73 in the Caldwell catalogue.
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| Phact (mag 2.7) | NGC 1891 | NGC 1851 (mag 7.3) | NGC 1792 (mag 10.2) |
| Wazn (mag 3.1) | NGC 1963 | NGC 1808 (mag 10.2) | |
| δ-Col (mag 3.8) | NGC 2061 | NGC 2090 (mag 10.9) | |
| ε-Col (mag 3.9) | NGC 2188 (mag 11.7) | ||
| η-Col (mag 3.9) | NGC 1800 (mag 12.6) | ||
| γ-Col (mag 4.3) | NGC 1879 (mag 12.8) | ||
| κ-Col (mag 4.4) | IC 2158 (mag 12.9) | ||
| O-Col (mag 4.8) | IC 2150 (mag 12.9) | ||
| λ-Col (mag 4.9) | NGC 1827 (mag 13.2) | ||
| ξ-Col (mag 5.0) | IC 2135 (mag 13.3) | ||
| θ-Col (mag 5.0) | IC 2147 (mag 13.6) | ||
| μ-Col (mag 5.1) | NGC 2049 (mag 13.7) | ||
| HIP 31165 (mag 5.3) | NGC 1812 (mag 13.7) | ||
| HIP 26868 (mag 5.3) | IC 2122 (mag 13.9) | ||
| ν²-Col (mag 5.3) | NGC 1989 (mag 14.1) | ||
| HIP 31299 (mag 5.4) | NGC 2255 (mag 14.2) | ||
| HIP 26649 (mag 5.4) | IC 2153 (mag 14.3) | ||
| HIP 25993 (mag 5.5) | NGC 1811 (mag 14.5) | ||
| π²-Col (mag 5.5) | NGC 1992 (mag 14.7) | ||
| HIP 30143 (mag 5.5) | IC 2155 (mag 16.5) | ||
| σ-Col (mag 5.5) | |||
| HIP 29842 (mag 5.5) | |||
| HIP 28524 (mag 5.5) | |||
| HIP 25608 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 27955 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 29263 (mag 5.6) | |||
| 72-Col (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 27766 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 30444 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 31637 (mag 5.7) |
