Mensa as depicted by its creator, Nicolas Louis de La Caille.

The Myth Behind Constellation Mensa

Mensa was created to commemorate Table Mountain near Cape Town in South Africa by eighteen-century astronomer Nicolas-Louis de La Caille.  Cape Town is where he cataloged the southern stars in the early 1750s.  He originally named the constellation in French, Montagne de la Table.  It was later Latinized to Mons Mensae and shortened by Francis Baily to Mensa in 1845.  Mensa is the only official constellation created by La Caille that was not an artistic tool or scientific instrument.

Mensa Constellation Points of Interest

Interesting stars and objects.

Bright Stars in Mensa

There are no stars in Mensa with a magnitude of 3.0 or brighter.