Which constellation is named after the air pump?

The constellation named after the air pump is Antlia. The name comes from the Greek and Latin word for “pump,” and the constellation represents a pneumatic or air pump used in early scientific experiments.

French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille created Antlia in 1751–52 while charting nearly 10,000 southern stars from the Cape of Good Hope. He originally called it la Machine Pneumatique, or “the Pneumatic Machine,” in honor of the air pump developed by physicist Denis Papin. Lacaille later Latinized the name as Antlia Pneumatica.

Antlia is a faint constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, bordered by Hydra, Pyxis, Vela, and Centaurus. Its brightest star, Alpha Antliae, is an orange giant with a brightness that varies slightly. The constellation also contains the eclipsing binary S Antliae, the spiral galaxy NGC 2997, and the nearby Antlia Dwarf Galaxy.

The answer is sometimes confused with Fornax, which represents a furnace, or Telescopium, which represents a telescope. Like those names, Antlia reflects the scientific instruments celebrated in Lacaille's Enlightenment-era southern sky map.