A significant constellation of the southern sky, representing the stern of the ship Argo Navis. Its brightest star is Naos (Zeta Puppis). Xi Puppis is an optical double, magnitudes 3.3 and 5.3. L Puppis is another optical double, one star of magnitude 4.9 and an unrelated semiregular red-giant variable that ranges between magnitudes 2.6 and 6.2 in a period of about 140 days. V Puppis is an eclipsing binary, ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 4.9 in a period of 1.45 days. M46, M47, NGC 2451, and NGC 2477 are all large, bright open clusters.