The Constellation Dorado
Dorado is a small and not particularly conspicuous constellation in the southern sky, visible in the evening sky in the months around November.
Its brightest stars are of third magnitude, but it is better known for its rich offering of deep sky objects than for its stars.
The Milky Way's dwarf satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, falls mostly within Dorado, with the remainder lying in Mensa. Numerous open star cluster are visible within this part of the sky, as well as a swarm of globular clusters.
Behind the Large Magellanic Cloud, a number of more distant galaxies are also visible, including the bright face-on spiral galaxy NGC 1566.
Dorado is among the dozen constellations introduced by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman which celebrate rare or exotic animals, and it first appeared on star maps in 1598. It is usually identified as a goldfish, but has also been depicted as a swordfish.
1598 (Keyser & de Houtman)
0.4% of the sky
179.2 square degrees
Dorado contains no Messier objects
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 |
| α-Dor (mag 3.3) | NGC 1747 (mag 9.4) | NGC 1850 (mag 9.0) | NGC 1553 (mag 9.3) |
| β-Dor (mag 3.8) | NGC 2042 (mag 9.6) | NGC 2100 (mag 9.6) | NGC 1566 (mag 9.7) |
| γ-Dor (mag 4.3) | NGC 1984 (mag 10.0) | NGC 1866 (mag 9.7) | NGC 1549 (mag 9.8) |
| δ-Dor (mag 4.3) | NGC 1970 (mag 10.3) | NGC 2004 (mag 9.8) | NGC 1672 (mag 10.2) |
| 36-Dor (mag 4.6) | NGC 1974 (mag 10.3) | NGC 1818 (mag 9.8) | NGC 1617 (mag 10.4) |
| ζ-Dor (mag 4.7) | NGC 2037 (mag 10.3) | NGC 1755 (mag 9.8) | NGC 1947 (mag 10.5) |
| θ-Dor (mag 4.8) | NGC 1782 (mag 10.5) | NGC 1856 (mag 10.1) | NGC 1533 (mag 10.7) |
| ν-Dor (mag 5.0) | NGC 1951 (mag 10.6) | NGC 1786 (mag 10.1) | NGC 1515 (mag 11.0) |
| η²-Dor (mag 5.0) | NGC 2011 (mag 10.6) | NGC 2157 (mag 10.2) | NGC 1596 (mag 11.1) |
| ε-Dor (mag 5.1) | NGC 1767 (mag 10.6) | NGC 2164 (mag 10.3) | NGC 1546 (mag 11.3) |
| λ-Dor (mag 5.1) | NGC 2098 (mag 10.7) | NGC 2041 (mag 10.4) | NGC 1703 (mag 11.7) |
| WZ Dor (mag 5.2) | NGC 1735 (mag 10.8) | NGC 1916 (mag 10.4) | NGC 1688 (mag 11.8) |
| κ-Dor (mag 5.3) | NGC 1774 (mag 10.8) | NGC 1854 (mag 10.4) | NGC 2082 (mag 12.2) |
| 28-Dor (mag 5.3) | NGC 1967 (mag 10.8) | NGC 1835 (mag 10.6) | NGC 1892 (mag 12.3) |
| π²-Dor (mag 5.4) | NGC 1787 (mag 10.9) | NGC 1978 (mag 10.7) | NGC 1809 (mag 12.3) |
| π¹-Dor (mag 5.6) | NGC 2214 (mag 10.9) | NGC 2136 (mag 10.7) | NGC 1796 (mag 12.4) |
| η¹-Dor (mag 5.7) | NGC 1772 (mag 11.0) | NGC 2002 (mag 10.8) | NGC 1824 (mag 12.6) |
| R Dor (mag 5.7) | NGC 2027 (mag 11.0) | NGC 1783 (mag 10.9) | NGC 1706 (mag 12.6) |
| HIP 20109 (mag 6.1) | NGC 2009 (mag 11.0) | NGC 2210 (mag 10.9) | NGC 1581 (mag 12.8) |
| HIP 22844 (mag 6.1) | NGC 1860 (mag 11.0) | NGC 1872 (mag 11.0) | NGC 2150 (mag 13.0) |
| HIP 25781 (mag 6.2) | NGC 1913 (mag 11.1) | NGC 1806 (mag 11.1) | NGC 1556 (mag 13.1) |
| HIP 26368 (mag 6.3) | NGC 2096 (mag 11.3) | NGC 1831 (mag 11.2) | NGC 1602 (mag 13.1) |
| HIP 30973 (mag 6.3) | NGC 2102 (mag 11.4) | NGC 1870 (mag 11.3) | NGC 1578 (mag 13.1) |
| HIP 26190 (mag 6.3) | NGC 1962 (mag 11.5) | NGC 2003 (mag 11.3) | IC 2085 (mag 13.2) |
| HIP 27660 (mag 6.4) | NGC 1704 (mag 11.5) | NGC 1846 (mag 11.3) | NGC 1506 (mag 13.2) |
| HIP 22737 (mag 6.4) | NGC 1820 (mag 11.5) | NGC 2159 (mag 11.4) | IC 2081 (mag 13.3) |
| HIP 18275 (mag 6.5) | NGC 1922 (mag 11.5) | NGC 2156 (mag 11.4) | NGC 2187 (mag 13.3) |
| HIP 22081 (mag 6.5) | NGC 2127 (mag 11.6) | NGC 2005 (mag 11.6) | NGC 1771 (mag 13.4) |
| XY Dor (mag 6.5) | NGC 2117 (mag 11.7) | NGC 1868 (mag 11.6) | NGC 1853 (mag 13.6) |
| HIP 25700 (mag 6.6) | NGC 1965 (mag 11.7) | NGC 1953 (mag 11.7) | NGC 1522 (mag 13.6) |
