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Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Fornax
Origin:
One of the 14 constellations in the southern sky, introduced by the French
astronomer, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
in 1752. The stars once belonged to Eridanus
and, after being excised from the parent constellation, were originally
named Fornax Chemica, the Chemical Furnace. Probably introduced
along with other southern constellations, in part, to celebrate the tools
developed in the industrial revolution.
Information:
Among the most inconspicuous of the constellations in the sky. For
northern observers, Fornax will be low on the southern horizon and
invisible in even slightly urbanized areas since Fornax possesses no star
brighter than 4th magnitude. The constellation culminates at 9
pm late in November. Fornax has few local deep sky objects but
excels in its variety of galaxies visible in a 20-cm (8") or larger
telescope. Fornax is also home to the Fornax System -- an
elliptically shaped supercluster of stars about 600,000 light years
away. |
