#alpha vulpeculae

[quiltofstars]

The constellation of Vulpecula, the Fox // E. Slawik/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/M. Zamani

Click below for some information about this tiny constellation as well as an annotated image!

Vulpecula, which is Latin for "little fox," is a tiny constellation created in the 17th century by Polish astronomer Johannes Hevelius. He originally called this Vulpecula cum ansere, which is Latin for "the little fox with the goose," and drawings showed it as a fox with a goose in its mouth. Nowadays, we only see it as a fox, but the goose has lived on in the name of Vulpecula's brightest star.

There is only one named star in Vulpecula:

Anser (α Vulpeculae) is a part of a wide binary pair with 8 Vulpeculae. Anser itself is a red giant star about 291 light years away. Its name refers to Hevelius' original constellation, being Latin for "goose."

[quiltofstars]

The star Anser (α Vulpeculae) // daywalker

Anser is the brightest star in the constellation of Vulpecula, the Fox. The star's name comes from the constellations original name, Vulpecula cum ansere meaning "the little fox with the goose".

Physically, Anser is a red giant with about the mass of the Sun, but a size about 40 times that of the Sun. It is located almost 300 light years away.