Mensa: Difference between revisions

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[[File:375px-Mensa IAU.svg.png|thumb|Mensa]]
[[File:375px-Mensa IAU.svg.png|thumb|Mensa]]
[[Mensa]] is a constellation in the southern sky, created in the 18th century. Its name is Latin for table. It covers a keystone-shaped wedge of sky stretching from approximately 4h to 7.5h of right ascension, and −71 to −85.5 degrees of declination. Other than the south polar constellation of Octans, it is the most southerly of constellations. As a result, it is essentially unobservable from the Northern Hemisphere. Besides those already mentioned, its other neighbouring constellations are Chamaeleon, Dorado, Hydrus, and Volans. It is the only constellation named after a feature on Earth. <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensa_%28constellation%29 Mensa]</ref>


Mensa is a constellation in the southern sky, created in the 18th century. Its name is Latin for table. It covers a keystone-shaped wedge of sky stretching from approximately 4h to 7.5h of right ascension, and −71 to −85.5 degrees of declination. Other than the south polar constellation of Octans, it is the most southerly of constellations. As a result, it is essentially unobservable from the Northern Hemisphere. Besides those already mentioned, its other neighbouring constellations are Chamaeleon, Dorado, Hydrus, and Volans. It is the only constellation named after a feature on Earth. <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensa_%28constellation%29 Mensa]</ref>
The constellation Mensa is close to the South Pole (in Octans), and named by La Caille who originally called it Mons Mensae after Table Mountain, the name of the mountain near his observatory in Cape Town, South Africa. A mensa land formation has steep walls and a relatively flat top.