Paloma
Dove (Columbae)
Columba, the Dove, is a small constellation in the southern sky just south of Canis Major and the bright star Sirius. Created in the late 16th century, it represents the dove that Noah sent from the Ark to find dry land after the Great Flood. The constellation contains a few moderately bright stars and lies in a relatively sparse region of the Milky Way.
📜 Mitología
Columba was created by Dutch theologian and cartographer Petrus Plancius around 1592, using stars that had previously been part of Canis Major. He named it 'Columba Noachi' (Noah's Dove) to represent the dove from the biblical story of Noah's Ark (Genesis 8). The dove returned to the Ark carrying an olive branch, signaling that the floodwaters were receding and dry land was emerging. Some sources also associate it with the dove sent by the Argonauts through the Clashing Rocks.
💡 Datos curiosos
- ✦Mu Columbae is a 'runaway star' ejected from the Orion Nebula about 2.5 million years ago
- ✦Columba contains NGC 1851, a beautiful globular cluster about 39,000 light-years away
- ✦The constellation's brightest star, Phact, means 'ring dove' in Arabic