Constellation Inlet

Constellation Inlet (78°30’0"S, 80°30’0"W) is an ice-filled inlet of the Weddell Sea. It is 30 nautical miles long and 10 nautical miles wide, opening between the Dott Ice Rise and the Skytrain Ice Rise at the southwest margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. Its mouth is within the British Antarctic Territory, the territorial boundary cutting through it.

The Rutford Ice Stream east of Constellation Inlet is the northern termination of the line marking the western boundary of Queen Elizabeth Land.

The inlet was mapped by the United States Geological Survey from surveys and from US Navy air photos, 1961–66, and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for the Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft, C-121J. Equipped only with wheeled tricycle landing gear, it was for many years the principal carrier of personnel from the U.S. to New Zealand and thence to the ice runway near McMurdo Station. In addition to its role of hauling men and supplies, the "Connie" flew many hours of aerial photography over Antarctica.

The Constellation Inlet