Mensa, the Table Mountain

Men

Mensae

Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Mensa

Origin:
Introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1752 and probably named after the observatory below the Table Mountain near Cape Town, South Africa. Lacaille originally called this group of stars Mons Mensae.

Information:
Mensa contains only a few faint stars and is otherwise completely undistinguished except for being the location of one-third of the Large Magellanic Cloud.  Mensa is adjacent to and south of Dorado and culminates for southern observers at 9 pm around the end of January.  Mensa is always below the horizon for observers north of 20° N lat.