Argo Navis was sub-divided into three sections in 1752 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, including Argûs in puppi. Despite the division, Lacaille kept a single set of Bayer designations for the whole constellation Argo. Therefore, Carina has the α, β, and ε, Vela has γ and δ, Puppis has ζ, and so on. In the 19th century, these three sections of Argo became established as separate constellations and were formally included in the list of 88 modern IAU constellations in 1930.
Named stars
Bayer designation
Name
Origin
Meaning
ζ
Naos
Greek
ship
ρ
Tureis
Arabic
shield
ξ
Asmidiske
Greek
gunwale
.
Planetary systems
Several extrasolar planet systems have been found around stars in the constellation Puppis, including:
On May 17, 2006, HD 69830 was discovered to have three Neptune-mass planets, the first multi-planetary system without any Jupiter-like or Saturn-like planets. The star also hosts an asteroid belt at the region between middle planet to outer planet.
On September 22, 2008, two Jupiter-like planets were discovered around HD 60532. HD 60532 b has a minimum mass of and orbits at 0.759 AU and takes 201.3 days to complete the orbit. HD 60532 c has a minimum mass of and orbits at 1.58 AU and takes 604 days to complete the orbit.
Deep-sky objects
As the Milky Way runs through Puppis, there are many open clusters in the constellation. M46 and M47 are two open clusters in the same binocular field. M47 can be seen with the naked eye under dark skies, and its brightest stars are 6th magnitude. Messier 93 is another open cluster somewhat to the south. NGC 2451 is a very bright open cluster containing the star c Puppis, and the near NGC 2477 is a good target for small telescopes. The star Pi Puppis is the main component of a bright group of stars known as Collinder 135. M46 is a circular open cluster with an overall magnitude of 6.1 at a distance of approximately 5400 light-years from Earth. The planetary nebulaNGC 2438 is superimposed; it is approximately 2900 light-years from Earth. M46 is classified as a Shapley class f and a Trumpler class III 2 m cluster. This means that it is a rich cluster that appears distinct from the star field. However, it is not at its center. The cluster's stars, numbering between 50 and 100, have a moderate range in brightness.
