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Fornax, "The Furnace", is another of those constellations created
by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the mid-eighteenth century; he took
several dozen fairly bright stars away from the middle of Eridanus and
called the result Fornax Chemica.
Alpha Fornacis is an easy visual binary, however the most
noteworthy object in this constellation is the Fornax Galaxy
Cluster (see below).
The asterism is a rather uninspired connection
of its three brightest stars. In general the Bayer
stars are fourth and fifth magnitude.
Gamma1A and gamma1B For form a
faint triple system: .
In the southeastern corner of Fornax, on the border with Eridanus, is a
collection of bright galaxies which go by the collective name of "The
Fornax Galaxy Cluster".
NGC 1316 is 2º SW of chi3 For;
See also the Binocular Section. |
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© Richard Dibon-Smith.