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Dorado
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Dorado

constellation
Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
Fact-checked by
Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Dorado, constellation in the southern sky at about 5 hours right ascension and 60° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Doradus, with a magnitude of 3.2. This constellation contains more than half of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite of the Milky Way Galaxy and one of the nearest galaxies to Earth at a distance of 160,000 light-years. The LMC is home to S Doradus, one of the most luminous stars, and...

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