Constellation Profile - Telescopium

There is a telescope sitting in the night sky for those in the South to see.  The constellation is known as Telescopium and it sits just out of the reach of Albertans.  You would have to drive down to southern Montana to be able to catch a few of its stars.  This was not always the case.  The boundaries of Telescopium have changed many times over the years since its inception in 1751.  Eta Sagittarii and G Scorpii were once part of the constellation.  Messier 7, the southernmost messier object (34.75°S), was once considered to be Eta Telescopii.  The official boundaries set by the International Astronomy Union in 1930 confine Telescopium between 45°S and 57°S.  If you would like to see the entire constellation you'll have to go as far as Phoenix, Arizona and be there at the right time.  If you are down south and want to find it, just use Scorpius' tail to point you straight to it.  The map below will help.

Star-hop to Telescopium

Like most of Lacaille's constellations I certainly do not see the representation of the telescope.  However, it does make sense to immortalize the instrument that brought the universe down to the Earth.  Lacaille's original 18th century depiction is shown below.

Lacaille Telescopium

Later throughout the century other telescopes in the sky were invented.  Tubus Herchelii Major between Gemini and Auriga and Tubus Herchelii Minor between Taurus and Orion were once considered constellations for a short time.  Johann Bode referred to Lacaille's original 'Le Telescope' as Tubus Astromonicus which is depicted below.

Uranographia Telescopium

As you can see from the diagram above, the original Telescopium is stealing stars from Scorpius' Tail and the south section of Sagittarius.  Since the boundaries were shifted a lot Telescopium does not have Bayer designation Beta, Gamma and Theta among others.  I found this strange when I first studied the constellation.  Where is Beta?

Telescopium has some fairly bright stars in it regardless of its collapse throughout the centuries.  Seven stars are greater than 5th magnitude and should be fairly easy to see on a clear night.  NGC 6584 is a beautiful globular cluster that would look lovely through any backyard telescope.  There is also quite a selection of galaxies for those hunting with larger telescopes.  Telescopium even has a group of twelve galaxies with the brightest sitting just under 11th magnitude.  Grab a light bucket and suck in as many photons as you can.

The image below is an addition to my maps of all the constellations.

Telescopium

Telescopium has an interesting type of star located within its borders.  PV Telescopii is a supergiant extreme helium star.  It is almost completely lacking in hydrogen and thus likely formed in mergers and not molecular clouds.  A variable star ranging from 9.24-9.40 magnitude you'll need a telescope or a really good pair of binoculars to find it in the very southeast corner of the constellation.

If you are ever traveling south to a star party see if you can pull in some of the deep sky objects found within this homage to the instrument you will be using.