Caelum

Caelum
Constellation

List of stars in Caelum
Abbreviation Cae
Genitive Caeli
Pronunciation /ˈsləm/, genitive /ˈsl/
Symbolism the chisel
Right ascension 5 h
Declination −40°
Quadrant SQ1
Area 125 sq. deg. (81st)
Main stars 4
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars
8
Stars with planets 0
Stars brighter than 3.00m 0
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) 1
Brightest star α Cae (4.45m)
Nearest star RR Cae
(26.31 ly, 8.07 pc)
Messier objects 0
Meteor showers None
Bordering
constellations
Columba
Lepus
Eridanus
Horologium
Dorado
Pictor
Visible at latitudes between +40° and −90°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January.

Caelum ( /ˈsləm/) is a faint constellation in the southern sky, introduced in the 18th century by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name means "the chisel" in Latin, and it was formerly known as Cæla Sculptoris, "the sculptor's chisel". It is the eighth smallest constellation, with an area just less than that of Corona Australis.

Contents

Notable features

Caelum is a faint constellation, having no star brighter than fourth magnitude. Its brightest star is the magnitude 4.45 α Caeli.

A small telescope splits γ Caeli into a magnitude 4.5 red giant and a magnitude 6.34 white giant. Larger telescopes are needed to see several NGC objects, all galaxies, but none brighter than magnitude 11.5 or larger than 3 arcminutes.[1]

Most notable galaxies are NGC 1571, NGC 1679 and IC 2106.[2]

Namesakes

USS Caelum (AK-106) was a United States Navy ship named after the constellation.

Citations

References

External links

Coordinates: 05h 00m 00s, −40° 00′ 00″