Fornax
What is Fornax?
Constellations· Autumn–winter evenings · inside a bend of Eridanus. Lacaille's tribute to the chemist's furnace. Its stars are faint, but the Fornax galaxy cluster and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field lie in this direction, making it a window onto the distant universe.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
Where Fornax is in your sky right now: https://nowsky.org/solar/sky?sel=con:Fornax — location and time set automatically, no login.
Stars of the figure
| Star | Magnitude |
|---|---|
| Dalim | 3.9 |
| Beta Fornacis | 4.5 |
The 2 brightest of the 2 stars used in the figure (1 lines). Lower magnitude means brighter.
Deep-sky objects near this constellation
Constellation basics
| Season | Nov–Dec evenings, low in the south; visible from Korea |
|---|---|
| Brightest star | α Fornacis (Dalim), mag 3.9 |
| How to find | south of Cetus, inside the curve of Eridanus |
| Area rank | 41st of 88 |
Figures are representative approximations. Source: compiled from NASA and IAU public data.
Frequently asked
- When can I see Fornax?
- Nov–Dec evenings, low in the south; visible from Korea.
- How do I find Fornax?
- south of Cetus, inside the curve of Eridanus.
- What is the brightest star in Fornax?
- Dalim, magnitude 3.9.
- Where is Fornax in the sky right now?
- Open the sky view for your location and time and it shows the position in the sky right now.
The Fornax Dwarf — a satellite with globular clusters of its own
In 1938 Harlow Shapley found a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way 460,000 light-years away in the direction of Fornax. The Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal is sparse in stars and low in surface brightness, but unusually for a satellite it possesses six globular clusters. How so small a galaxy made and kept clusters of that size remains a test question for theories of galaxy formation.
Its stars were born over several epochs, unlike other dwarfs that formed stars once and stopped. One of the globulars lies far from the centre and may one day be lost, and the fact that the clusters have not sunk to the galaxy's centre is a clue to how its dark matter is distributed. In the direction of the constellation famous for the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, a specimen of galaxy formation also sits close at hand.
The constellation in depth
Fornax was drawn by Lacaille in the 1750s and first named the Chemical Furnace; tradition says it honours Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry. It sits inside a great bend of the river Eridanus, so it looks like a clearing enclosed by water, with no bright star of its own. The constellation ranks 41st in area among the 88.
The stars may be faint, but the galaxies are not. The Fornax galaxy cluster, about 62 million light-years away, holds showpieces such as the barred spiral NGC 1365, and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field of 2004 — which captured galaxies from 13 billion years ago — was a tiny patch inside this constellation. The Fornax dwarf galaxy is a satellite of the Milky Way. A telescope of moderate size shows several members of the cluster.
At declinations of −24° to −40° it is visible from Korea, low in the south on November and December evenings, south of Cetus and inside the curve of Eridanus. In the Sky view, try Seoul on a November night looking south, or pick a southern city to see it high overhead. The constellation lines help, since its stars are faint.
Related
Figures are representative approximations. Simulated positions use J2000 mean elements.