Fornax facts for kids
| Constellation | |
List of stars in Fornax
|
|
| Abbreviation | For |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Fornacis |
| Pronunciation | genitive |
| Symbolism | the brazier |
| Right ascension | 3 |
| Declination | −30 |
| Quadrant | SQ1 |
| Area | 398 sq. deg. (41st) |
| Main stars | 2 |
| Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
27 |
| Stars with planets | 7 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 0 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 2 |
| Brightest star | α For (3.80m) |
| Messier objects | None |
| Meteor showers | None |
| Bordering constellations |
Cetus Sculptor Phoenix Eridanus |
| Visible at latitudes between +50° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of December. |
|
Fornax is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was created in the eighteenth century and is now one of the 88 modern constellations.
Contents
History
Fornax was identified by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. He originally called it Fornax Chemica ("chemical furnace"), representing a small solid fuel heater used for heating chemical experiments.
Notable features
Fornax has been the target of investigations into the furthest reaches of the universe. The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is located within Fornax, and the Fornax Cluster, a small cluster of galaxies, lies primarily within Fornax. At a meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society in Britain, a team from University of Queensland described 40 unknown "dwarf" galaxies in this constellation; follow-up observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope revealed that Ultra Compact Dwarfs are much smaller than previously known dwarf galaxies, about 120 light-years across.
NGC 1316 is a notably bright elliptical galaxy within the Fornax Cluster. The galaxy is also one of the brightest radio sources in the sky.
Images for kids
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Fornax Chemica can be seen below Cetus in this card from Urania's Mirror (1825).
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The Hubble Ultra Deep Field seen with MUSE.
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Rings of Relativity
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Galaxies in the Fornax Cluster
See also
In Spanish: Fornax para niños
