Chamaeleon - The Chameleon

Chamaeleon is one of the faintest constellations. It is a small, obscure group near the south celestial pole.

History and Mythology

Chamaeleon was invented by Johann Bayer in 1604. Because it is bounded on the east by Musca, the Fly, some early astronomers related the two constellations, showing the chameleon as trying to eat Musca, the Fly.

Notable Objects

Chameleon is an inconspicuous constellation with no stars brighter than 4th magnitude. Gamma Chamaeleontis is the brightest, at magnitude 4.1. The pair Alpha and Theta form a wide double that can be seen with the naked eye. They have contrasting colors of white and orange. Chameleon contains two close double stars. Delta has two yellow components separated by 0.6 arcseconds. Epsilon has two components which are blue-white in color with a separation of 0.9 arcseconds.

NGC 3195 is a 12th magnitude planetary nebula located in Chameleon, but it requires at least a 10 inch telescope to see.