The Constellation Ara
Ara is a southern constellation which is visible in the months around May. It lacks any particularly conspicuous stars, but has seven of fourth magnitude.
The Milky Way passes through this area of the sky, and so it is home to several bright open and globular clusters.
Ara is one of the southern-most constellations known to antiquity, and its name is Latin for ‘altar’. It is usually depicted with smoke rising southwards, flowing along the line of the Milky Way.
In Greek mythology, Ara is identified as the altar upon which the gods swore a vow of allegiance before the Battle of the Titans.
Ancient
0.6% of the sky
237.1 square degrees
Ara contains no Messier objects
The following constellations neighbor Ara: Apus, Corona Australis, Norma, Pavo, Scorpius, Telescopium, Triangulum Australe.
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-Ara (mag 2.8) | NGC 6193 (mag 5.2) | NGC 6397 (mag 5.6) | NGC 6300 (mag 10.3) |
| β-Ara (mag 2.8) | NGC 6250 (mag 5.9) | NGC 6352 (mag 8.1) | NGC 6221 (mag 10.5) |
| ζ-Ara (mag 3.1) | IC 4651 (mag 6.9) | NGC 6362 (mag 8.1) | NGC 6215 (mag 11.2) |
| γ-Ara (mag 3.3) | NGC 6208 (mag 7.2) | NGC 6305 (mag 12.2) | |
| δ-Ara (mag 3.6) | NGC 6200 (mag 7.4) | IC 4646 (mag 12.3) | |
| θ-Ara (mag 3.6) | NGC 6204 (mag 8.2) | IC 4653 (mag 12.6) | |
| η-Ara (mag 3.8) | NGC 6253 (mag 10.2) | IC 4656 (mag 13.8) | |
| ε¹-Ara (mag 4.1) | IC 4652 (mag 14.2) | ||
| σ-Ara (mag 4.6) | NGC 6328 (mag 15.5) | ||
| λ-Ara (mag 4.8) | |||
| Cervantes (mag 5.1) | |||
| κ-Ara (mag 5.2) | |||
| ι-Ara (mag 5.2) | |||
| π-Ara (mag 5.2) | |||
| ε²-Ara (mag 5.3) | |||
| HIP 84720 (mag 5.5) | |||
| HIP 83057 (mag 5.5) | |||
| HIP 82171 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 85389 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 83187 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 81733 (mag 5.6) | |||
| HIP 85147 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 81702 (mag 5.7) | |||
| V539 Ara (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 83535 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 82110 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 85470 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 85169 (mag 5.7) | |||
| HIP 85068 (mag 5.8) | |||
| HIP 86552 (mag 5.8) |
