Generalites: it is a constellation of the southern sky, not far from the Big Dog and therefore from Sirius. The transit at midnight takes place in  December.

Origins and mythology: the Dove belongs to the so-called “modern” constellations: in fact it was introduced by Royer in 1679. It represents the dove freed by Noah at the end of the universal downpour. Its original Latin name was in fact Columba Noachi (Noah’s dove).

Stars: the Dove shows an only  star of  magnitude inferior to 3. It is the star Phakt, of white color, about 120 light-years far from us. This constellation shows other four stars under magnitude 4. The star beta (m=3,12) is named  Wazn.
 

 Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Spectrum	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Alpha	Phakt	2.64	B8	white	120
Beta	Wazn	3.12	K2	orange	143

Other objects: in this constellation a globular cluster and some weak galaxies are included and can be visible with amateur tools .

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