Dorado
What is Dorado?
Constellations· Southern summer evenings · not visible from Korea · home of the LMC. The dolphinfish of tropical seas in the southern sky. Faint stars, but it contains most of the Large Magellanic Cloud and its vast star factory, the Tarantula Nebula, making it a southern showpiece. The south ecliptic pole lies here too. Not visible from Korea — move the Sky view location south.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Dorado is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=con:Dorado — location and time set automatically, no login.
Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Alpha Doradus | 3.3 |
| Beta Doradus | 3.8 |
The 2 brightest of the 2 stars used in the figure (1 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Constellation basics
| Season | southern summer evenings · below the horizon from Korea |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | Alpha Doradus (3.3) |
| How to find | between Canopus and Achernar |
| Area rank | 88 |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Dorado?
- southern summer evenings · below the horizon from Korea.
- How do I find Dorado?
- between Canopus and Achernar.
- What is the brightest star in Dorado?
- Alpha Doradus, magnitude 3.3.
- Where is Dorado in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
The Large Magellanic Cloud is going to hit the Milky Way
The Large Magellanic Cloud in Dorado was long taken for a satellite circling the Milky Way quietly, but the motion Gaia measured shows a different picture: it is on its first approach or barely into its first orbit, and its mass is several times earlier estimates. A 2019 calculation at Durham University projected that in about 2.4 billion years the Cloud will merge with the Milky Way, feeding the central black hole and shaking the disk.
That collision comes before the one with Andromeda (about 4.5 billion years away) and ranks as the next great event our galaxy will undergo. The Cloud's heaviness also helps explain why the Milky Way's disk is warped and how the halo stars move. The faint patch of light that looks like a cloud in the southern sky is the neighbour that will shape our galaxy's future.
The constellation in depth
Dorado is one of the twelve southern constellations Plancius created in 1598, originally depicting the dolphinfish (mahi-mahi) sailors watched in tropical seas — later often mistranslated as a swordfish. It contains the south ecliptic pole, the southern point where Earth's orbital axis aims, so the planets circle this spot through the year.
Its own stars are only 3rd–4th magnitude, but the Large Magellanic Cloud fills most of the constellation. This satellite galaxy 160,000 light-years away looks like a detached piece of the Milky Way, and inside it the Tarantula Nebula is the largest, most vigorous star-forming region in the Local Group — at the Orion Nebula's distance it would cast shadows. Supernova 1987A exploded here too, and Beta Doradus is a bright Cepheid variable.
Near declination −60°, it never rises from Korea. From the southern hemisphere it stands high between Canopus and Achernar on December–February evenings, with the Large Magellanic Cloud in tow. Set the Sky view location to Sydney and switch on "More objects" to see the LMC and the Tarantula Nebula.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.