The constellation of Volans, the Flying Fish is located near the southern hemisphere's pole and is one of the smaller constellations by area. It is surrounded by Mensa the Table Mountain and Chamaeleon the Chameleon to its south, and Carina the Keel to its north in which it is almost embedded. Dorado the Gold Fish and Pictor the Painter's Easel share its north-western corner. The six brightest stars form a roughly kite shaped asterism.

Mythology and History

The skies of the far southern latitudes were unseen by the early Babylonian and Greek astronomers and therefore few of the stars were attributed with proper names. One of the furthest south of the constellations they could see and named, was the super-sized Argo Navis which represents the ship in which Jason and the Argonauts sailed to retrieve the Golden Fleece of Aries the Ram. Ptolemy listed it as one of the 48 constellations in his Almagest. Such was the overall area covered by Argo Navis that for convenience it was eventually divided into four parts, Pyxis the Compass, Vela the Sails, Puppis the Stern and Carina the Keel. Carina is the most southern one of the four and it was in the southernmost part of that itself, that Volans was created.

Volans' origins lie in the 16th Century with the Dutch navigators Pieter Keyser and Friedrich Houtmann. From their travels they described and recorded the stars in these latitudes. These were later depicted on the globe of Petrus Plancius in AD 1598. Later still, in AD 1603, the astronomer Johann Bayer formalised twelve new constellations in his star atlas Uranometria. He recorded this one with the name Piscis Volans, the Flying Fish, and suitably located it disporting itself in the bow wave of Argo Navis.

Principal Stars

The constellation's brightest star is beta Volantis. It lies at a distance of 108 light-years and is seen as magnitude +3.70. Alpha Volantis, the second brightest, is magnitude +4.00 and is 124 light-years away. Gamma, delta, epsilon and zeta Volantis are all fourth magnitude stars and form the remainder of the asterism.

Galaxies

Despite its proximity to the Milky Way, Volans is poor in star clusters and nebulae. NGC 2442 is the predominant galaxy of any note within this small area and visible with small telescopes. It is unusual in that it is a distorted, barred galaxy, with arms that are pulled into a hook-like appearance by the gravitational effects during a close encounter with another nearby galaxy NGC 2443. Discovered by Sir John Herschel, NGC 2442 is 50 million light-years distant and about 150,000 light-years in diameter.

Extrasolar Planets

Volans sports only one star with an extrasolar planet. HD 76700 has a low mass planet orbiting it in a period of just under four Earth days. It is thought to be a gas planet of the size of our solar system's Uranus. Being close enough to its star to complete an orbit in that short time, it is likely to be extremely hot and unlikely to be a viable candidate to harbour life.

Flying Fish in Modern Culture

The flying fish family Exocoetidae extend throughout the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Overall there are 52 species all characterised by elongated pectoral fins which when extended, can be used for flight above the ocean water level. Some species also have unusually large pelvic fins giving them a four winged appearance. The fish take to the air when trying to escape predators and their flight duration can be extended for periods up to a minute by use of the lower caudal tailfin. The tailfin trailing in the water is used for additional forward thrust and steering turns.

The Exocet anti-ship missile, which was used by the Argentine Air Force with such deadly effect during the Falklands war, is named after the family order Exocoetidae. The missile, whether launched from aircraft, ships or submarines,uses the same wave skimming technique as the flying fish while homing in on its prey.