Dorado

The Gold Fish

Dorado Constellation

The Golden Fish

Dorado was created by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman, who charted the southern skies in 1595 - 1597. The Latin name of the constellation is usually translated as "Goldfish," but according to Julius D. W. Staal, the constellation does not represent either the small goldfish normally found in household aquariums, nor the large golden carp often found in Asian garden ponds.

Pompanos

The constellation is supposed to represent sea fish of the variety known as Pompanos. This is a large irridescent fish sometimes called dolphins, but they are a fish rather than a mammal like the true dolphin or porpoise.

The Large Magellanic Cloud

The most notable object in Dorado is the Large Magellanic Cloud, which laps over to some extent into the neighboring constellation of Mensa. The Large Magellanic Cloud is a smaller neighbor of the Milky Way Galaxy in which we live. The Large Magellanic Cloud lies about 168,000 ly away from us.