Constellation, Air Pump
Antlia
The air pump, a faint southern figure created in the 1750s by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille. He said it stood for experimental physics.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Antlia rises at 5:48 AM, is highest at 9:34 AM (16° above the horizon in the S) and sets at 1:23 PM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Antlia. Drag to look around.
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Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
Antlia has no myth. While mapping the southern sky from the Cape of Good Hope in 1751 and 1752, the French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille filled the gaps between the old figures with new ones. Most of them celebrate instruments of science and art. He first called this one la Machine Pneumatique, the pneumatic machine, and said it symbolized experimental physics. Lacaille drew the single-cylinder air pump that the French physicist Denis Papin used in his vacuum experiments of the 1670s. Later atlases, such as Johann Bode’s, showed a more advanced pump with two cylinders.
Lacaille gave the Latin name Antlia Pneumatica on the second edition of his chart in 1763. In 1844 John Herschel suggested shortening it to the single word Antlia, and Francis Baily did so in his catalogue of 1845. Its faint stars lie between Hydra and the old ship Argo, but the Greeks never placed them in any figure.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Antlia
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| α Ant | α Ant | 4.28 | 366 light-years |
| ε Ant | ε Ant | 4.51 | 711 light-years |
| ι Ant | ι Ant | 4.60 | 190 light-years |
| θ Ant | θ Ant | 4.78 | 339 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 239 square degrees (62 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Ant |
| Sky | Southern sky |
| Origin | First shown on Lacaille’s planisphere of the southern sky, from his 1751–52 observations at the Cape of Good Hope |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 4 |
| Centre (J2000) | 10.1 h, -33° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
No deep-sky object brighter than magnitude 9.
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.