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Stars and Sticks| Abbreviation | For |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Furnace |
| Pronunciation Guide is based on “Pronouncing Astronomical Names,” published in 1943 by the American Astronomical Society. | FOR-nax |
| Genitive The genitive is the Latin possessive form used in star names. For example, Alpha Orionis means “the Alpha of Orion.” | for-NAY-sis |
| Best Month | December |
| Visibility | Southern |
| Origin | EnlightenmentNamed by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 1750s; these represent the scientific and artistic tools of the "Age of Reason". |
| Author | LacailleKnown as the "Father of Southern Astronomy," he mapped nearly 10,000 stars and created 14 new constellations in the southern hemisphere. |
| Type | constellation |
| Difficulty | Expert |
| Description | The Chemical Furnace was introduced by Lacaille in the 1750s to honor the laboratory equipment of the scientific revolution, used for distillation and chemical heating. Despite occupying a faint, relatively barren patch of sky south of Eridanus, it contains a remarkable treasure — the Fornax Cluster, one of the nearest galaxy clusters to the Milky Way containing about 58 galaxies roughly 62 million light-years away. The brightest star, Dalim (Alpha Fornacis), is a beautiful binary system about 46 light-years away in which a yellow-white subgiant and a cooler orange star orbit each other every 269 years. |
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Images: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/E. Slawik · IAU and Sky & Telescope · Stellarium — Full credits →