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Mensa

The Table Mountain

Constellation of the southern sky

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Genitive	Mensae
Abbreviation	Men
Constellation Family	La Caille
Celestial Quadrant	SQ1 and SQ2
Right Ascension	3h13 to 7h37
Declination	-71.0° to -85.5°
Area (sq deg)	153
Brightest Star	Alpha Mensae
Optimum Visibility	December (Usually visible from southern latitudes)
Notes	Mensa lies directly southward of the Large Magellanic Cloud, and a segment of the Cloud is incorporated within the constellation's northern boundary. Extending southwards towards Octans the Southern Celestial Pole, Mensa is one of the faintest constellations in the sky, and even its brightest star, Alpha Mensae, is only on the edge of naked-eye visibility with a magnitude of +5.07.

Near the Southern Celestial Pole lies this small faint group of stars, which also contains a part of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its original full name was Mons Mensae, named after the Table Mountain where de La Caille had his observatory.

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