The world's largest star register
Andean dark-cloud figures

Yacana (Llama) · Yacana

Yacana (Llama) is an Andean dark-cloud figure perceived in a large dark silhouette running through the southern Milky Way near Centaurus and Crux. Its form comes primarily from obscuring interstellar dust against the bright Milky Way, not from lines between bright stars.

Andean dark-cloud figures

History and cultural context

The llama is described in Quechua ethnohistoric accounts as a celestial animal whose dark body is traced in dust lanes rather than bright stars. Knowledge is documented in colonial-era Quechua sources and modern ethnographic work, but interpretations are not uniform across every Andean community.

How Yacana (Llama) maps the sky

The figure follows the texture and seasonal orientation of the Milky Way. Any SVG outline is necessarily interpretive because dust clouds have diffuse edges and the perceived animal changes with sky conditions and community teaching.

Interesting facts about Yacana (Llama)

  • The llama is described in Quechua ethnohistoric accounts as a celestial animal whose dark body is traced in dust lanes rather than bright stars.
  • It is commonly located around a large dark silhouette running through the southern Milky Way near Centaurus and Crux, but that comparison does not make it identical to a modern IAU constellation.
  • The figure follows the texture and seasonal orientation of the Milky Way.

How it fits the combined catalogue

The directory stores Yacana (Llama) as one canonical entry and uses badges for membership and overlap, rather than duplicating it under every official constellation it touches.

Research and cultural care

Present this as Indigenous Andean knowledge with attribution, not as an exotic variant of an IAU constellation. Avoid claiming a single definitive outline or pan-Andean interpretation.

A personal connection to the night sky

Name a star while exploring Yacana (Llama)

Create a symbolic star registration with a certificate and sky coordinates, then use this guide to explore the surrounding sky. Cultural sky traditions do not always follow modern IAU boundaries, so availability is based on the corresponding astronomical region.

Star naming is a symbolic gift service. It does not change scientific names or designations maintained by the IAU.

Sources and further reading