Canopus is located in the constellation of Argo Navis which is the largest and most conspicuous constellation in the heavens. In addition to Canopus it contains a number of second- and third-magnitude stars and is subdivided for convenience into Puppis, The Prow; Carina, The Keel; and Vela, The Sails. Huge as it is, Argo Navis represents only half of a ship for the stern is lacking. According to the legend this ship was built by Argos, aided by Pallas Athene, for Jason, the leader of the expedition of the fifty Argonauts who sailed from Greece to Colchis in search of the golden fleece. Pallas Athene placed in the bow of the ship a piece of timber from the speaking oak of Dodona to guide the crew and warn them of dangers and after the voyage the ship was supposed to have been placed in the heavens. [Illustration: SOUTHERN CONSTELLATIONS--1. IN FEBRUARY] In Argo Navis is one of the finest telescopic objects in the heavens, the Keyhole Nebula, as it is usually called, from a peculiar-shaped dark patch in its brightest part. On the border of this nebula is the deep-red Wonder Star of the southern hemisphere, Eta Argus, which varies suddenly and unexpectedly in brightness between the seventh and first magnitudes. In 1843 it burst forth with a splendor rivaling Sirius and maintained this brilliancy for nearly ten years and then slowly waned in brilliancy until it disappeared to the unaided eye in 1886. The surrounding nebula also seems to share in its peculiar fluctuations of brightness. Eta Argus is now a star of the seventh magnitude and since it is still varying fitfully in brightness it is believed that the history of its light-changes is not complete. Among the constellations of the southern heavens near the meridian in February we see in addition to Argo Navis the constellations of Dorado, The Goldfish; Hydrus, The Serpent, and Tucana, The Toucan. Though insignificant in appearance Dorado contains what was described by Sir John Herschel as one of the most extraordinary objects in the heavens, a worthy rival of The Great Orion Nebula and in some respects very similar to it, The Great Looped Nebula, "the center of a great spiral." In Dorado also is located The Greater Magellanic Cloud which looks like a detached portion of the Milky Way though it is far removed from it. To the naked eye it resembles a small white cloud about 4° in extent. In the telescope it bears a close resemblance to a typical portion of the Milky Way. A similar formation known as The Lesser Magellanic Cloud is located in Hydrus. It has been estimated that the distance of The Lesser Cloud is 80,000 light-years and that it is receding from us.