Constellations · Constellation · Fornacis · For
Constellation
Fornax
A chemist’s furnace — Lacaille’s tribute to the young science of chemistry, in the decades when it was learning what fire actually is.
- Genitive
- Fornacis
- Area
- 397 square degrees · 41st of 88
- Brightest star
- Dalim · magnitude 3.80
- Naked-eye stars
- 62 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- late October
History
Lacaille named it the chemical furnace. Behind its faint stars is the Fornax Cluster of galaxies, and the patch of sky Hubble stared at for weeks to make the Ultra Deep Field.
Look for
The Fornax Dwarf Galaxy is a faint satellite of the Milky Way, with its own tiny globular clusters.