We continue our quest through the southern
constellations with one that is visible from Calgary. The constellation is known as 'Sculptor' and it was another of
Lacaille's constructions in the 18th century.
In late October, Sculptor can been seen directly from Calgary directly above the southern horizon. The best way to find it is to locate the fairly bright star in Piscis Austrinus known as Fomalhaut. Look just to the East of this star and you will be in Sculptor. The sky map below will help.
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| Star-hop to Sculptor |
Lacaille originally named the constellation
Apparatus Sculptoris which was to mean 'The Sculptor's Studio'. It represents a carved head on a tripod table with a mallet and two chisels next to a block of marble.
Lacaille's original depiction is shown below.
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| Lacaille's Sculptor |
Nearly half a century later, Johann Bode moved a few things around and illustrated the constellation in his Uranographia as shown below.
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| Uranographia Sculptor |
I took the time to create a star map of this constellation. Although I have yet to locate the Bayer stars in it I thought I would still post the map.
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| Sculptor |
The constellation has quite a few deep sky objects scattered throughout its relatively sparse stellar collection. The Sculptor Galaxy, also known as the Silver Dollar Galaxy, is a fairly bright object in the northern parts of the constellation. I am curious to see if anyone from Calgary has observed or photographed it from near our home region. It has been noted that it is one of the easiest galaxies to observe after the
Andromeda Galaxy. This gives me hope to have an observing attempt if I can find a clear view of the southern horizon. Since at its highest point it is 15° above the horizon it should be fairly visible from Calgary.
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| Sculptor Galaxy¹ |
This evening if the weather is cooperative I may seek out Fomalhaut with my binoculars and cruise over to Sculptor. I want to say I have spent sometime viewing some of the stars that Lacaille made friends with more than 250 years ago!
¹ (Image Credit - ESO/INAF-VST Acknowledgement: A. Grado/L. Limatola/INAF-Capodimonte Observatory)
2 comments:
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Thank you very much for the positive feedback, it is certainly quite an enjoyable hobby!
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