Constellations of Fornax and upper Eridanus
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Constellations of Fornax and upper Eridanus
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Image and text ©2008 Akira Fujii/David Malin Images.

In the picture above north is at the top and the image covers 52.5 x 65.7 degrees.
Image centre is located at 04:40:00.6, -11:06:52 (H:M:S, D:M:S, J2000) Astrometric data from Astrometry.net.

Fornax and upper Eridanus
From Aldebaran to Acamar
Best seen in the early evening in December-January

Fornax was created out of several faint stars in the southern part of Eridanus by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who originally named this obscure grouping le Fourneau (the Furnace) in the 1750s. The name was later Latinised (by Bode) to Fornax Chimiae, the Chemical Furnace in honor of the famous French chemist Antoine Lavoisier, who was guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution. An alternative view of Fornax is here

This image was taken from the northern hemisphere so Fornax is always close to the horizon and much of Eridanus remains below it. A complete but less detailed image of Eridanus is also available with a more detailed description.

Constellations adjoining Fornax Cetus, Eridanus, Phoenix, Sculptor.
Named star in Fornax
Fornacis (α For)

Related images (other sources -- see under 'Related Images' on the pages below)
AAT 23.     An edge-on spiral galaxy in Sculptor, NGC 253
AAT 55.     NGC 1365, a barred spiral galaxy in Fornax
AAT 82.     NGC 1360, diffuse planetary nebula in Fornax
AAT 118.   NGC 1316-17, the radio galaxy Fornax A
UKS 13.     The Fornax Cluster of galaxies

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David Malin, 2017 April 29.