Telescopium constellation lies in the southern sky, to the south of Sagittarius and Corona Australis.
As the name indicates, Telescopum represents the telescope. The constellation was created by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. Lacaille named it after a type of telescope in honour of its invention.
The constellation is a relatively faint one, with no stars brighter than fourth magnitude. It also has relatively few notable deep sky objects. It is home to the Telescopium Group, a group consisting of about 12 galaxies.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Telescopium is the 57th constellation in size, occupying an area of 252 square degrees. It is located in the fourth quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +40° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Ara, Corona Australis, Indus, Microscopium, Pavo and Sagittarius.
Telescopium belongs to the Lacaille family of constellations, along with Antlia, Caelum, Circinus, Fornax, Horologium, Mensa, Microscopium, Norma, Octans, Pictor, Reticulum and Sculptor.
Telescopium does not have any stars with confirmed planets nor does it contain any Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Alpha Telescopii, with an apparent magnitude of 3.49. There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation.
STORY
Telescopium is not associated with any myths. The constellation was introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who mapped the southern skies from the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in 1751-1752. It represents an aerial telescope, a type of refractor that was used by J.D. Cassini at Paris Observatory.
As defined by Lacaille, the constellation originally extended to the north between Sagittarius and Scorpius, but what used to represent the top of the telescope’s tube and mounting was cut off later. The official boundaries of the constellation were set by the Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930.
Today, Telescopium takes up a region of the sky south of the constellations Sagittarius and Corona Australis.
The star that was placed in the pulley at the top of the mast by Lacaille and designated Beta Telescopii became Eta Sagittarii and the star that used to be Gamma Telescopii and was positioned in the upper part of the telescope’s tube, became G Scorpii in Scorpius constellation. The former Theta Telescopii, which used to mark the objective lens on the refractor, was moved to Ophiuchus as designated 45 Ophiuchi.
The constellation was also sometimes known as Tubus Astronomicus, but this name is long obsolete.
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