Sculptor is a small and faint

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The origins of the e ...

in the southern sky. It represents a

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

. It was introduced by

Nicolas Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the 88 constellations. From 1750 to 1754, he studied the sky at the Cape of Goo ...

in the 18th century. He originally named it Apparatus Sculptoris (the sculptor's studio), but the name was later shortened.

History

The region to the south of Cetus and Aquarius had been named by

Aratus Aratus (; grc-gre, Ἄρατος ὁ Σολεύς; c. 315 BC/310 BC240) was a Greek didactic poet. His major extant work is his hexameter poem ''Phenomena'' ( grc-gre, Φαινόμενα, ''Phainómena'', "Appearances"; la, Phaenomena), the fi ...

in 270 BC as ''The Waters'' – an area of scattered faint stars with two brighter stars standing out. Professor of astronomy

Bradley Schaefer Bradley Elliott Schaefer is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Louisiana State University. He received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983. Early life In addition to his academic pursuits, Schaefer is reme ...

has proposed that these stars were most likely Alpha and Delta Sculptoris. The French astronomer

Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille (; 15 March 171321 March 1762), formerly sometimes spelled de la Caille, was a kingdom of France, French astronomer and geodesist who named 14 out of the IAU designated constellations, 88 constellations. From 1750 ...

first described the constellation in French as ''l'Atelier du Sculpteur'' (the sculptor's studio) in 1751–52, depicting a three-legged table with a carved head on it, and an artist's mallet and two chisels on a block of marble alongside it. De Lacaille had observed and catalogued almost 10,000 southern stars during a two-year stay at the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

, devising fourteen new constellations in uncharted regions of the

Southern Celestial Hemisphere The southern celestial hemisphere, also called the Southern Sky, is the southern half of the celestial sphere; that is, it lies south of the celestial equator. This arbitrary sphere, on which seemingly fixed stars form constellations, appea ...

not visible from Europe. He named all but one in honour of instruments that symbolised the

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

Characteristics

Sculptor is a small constellation bordered by

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainme ...

and

Cetus Cetus () is a constellation, sometimes called 'the whale' in English. The Cetus (mythology), Cetus was a sea monster in Greek mythology which both Perseus and Heracles needed to slay. Cetus is in the region of the sky that contains other water- ...

to the north,

Fornax Fornax () is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, partly ringed by the celestial river Eridanus. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Fornax is one of the 88 modern ...

to the east,

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

to the south, Grus to the southwest, and

Piscis Austrinus Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish", in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fish. Before the 20th century, it was also known a ...

to the west. The bright star

Fomalhaut Fomalhaut is the brightest star in the southern constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the "Southern Fish", and one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It has the Bayer designation Alpha Piscis Austrini, which is Latinized from � ...

is nearby. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; french: link=yes, Union astronomique internationale, UAI) is a nongovernmental organisation with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreac ...

in 1922, is "Scl". The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer

Eugène Delporte Eugene is a common male given name that comes from the Greek εὐγενής (''eugenēs''), "noble", literally "well-born", from εὖ (''eu''), "well" and γένος (''genos''), "race, stock, kin".equatorial coordinate system The equatorial coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system widely used to specify the positions of celestial objects. It may be implemented in spherical or rectangular coordinates, both defined by an origin at the centre of Earth, a fund ...

, the

right ascension Right ascension (abbreviated RA; symbol ) is the angular distance of a particular point measured eastward along the celestial equator from the Sun at the March equinox to the (hour circle of the) point in question above the earth. When paired w ...

coordinates of these borders lie between and , while the

declination In astronomy, declination (abbreviated dec; symbol ''δ'') is one of the two angles that locate a point on the celestial sphere in the equatorial coordinate system, the other being hour angle. Declination's angle is measured north or south of the ...

coordinates are between −24.80° and −39.37°. The whole constellation is visible to observers south of latitude 50°N.

Notable features

Stars

No stars brighter than 3rd magnitude are located in Sculptor. This is explained by the fact that Sculptor contains the south galactic pole where stellar density is very low. Overall, there are 56 stars within the constellation's borders brighter than or equal to

apparent magnitude Apparent magnitude () is a measure of the brightness of a star or other astronomical object observed from Earth. An object's apparent magnitude depends on its intrinsic luminosity, its distance from Earth, and any extinction of the object's li ...

6.5. The brightest star is Alpha Sculptoris, an SX Arietis-type

variable star A variable star is a star whose brightness as seen from Earth (its apparent magnitude) changes with time. This variation may be caused by a change in emitted light or by something partly blocking the light, so variable stars are classified as ...

with a spectral type B7IIIp and an apparent magnitude of 4.3. It is 780 ± 30 light-years distant from Earth. Eta Sculptoris is a

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

of spectral type M4III that varies between magnitudes 4.8 and 4.9, pulsating with multiple periods of 22.7, 23.5, 24.6, 47.3, 128.7 and 158.7 days. Estimated to be around 1,082 times as luminous as the Sun,Vizier catalog entry
/ref> it is 460 ± 20 light-years distant from Earth. R Sculptoris is a red giant that has been found to be surrounded by spirals of matter likely ejected around 1800 years ago. It is 1,440 ± 90 light-years distant from Earth. The Astronomical Society of Southern Africa in 2003 reported that observations of the

Mira variable Mira variables (named for the prototype star Mira) are a class of pulsating stars characterized by very red colours, pulsation periods longer than 100 days, and amplitudes greater than one magnitude in infrared and 2.5 magnitude at visual wavelen ...

stars T, U, V and X Sculptoris were very urgently needed as data on their light curves was incomplete.

Deep sky objects

The constellation also contains the Sculptor Dwarf, a

dwarf galaxy A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is ...

which is a member of the

Local Group The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way. It has a total diameter of roughly , and a total mass of the order of . It consists of two collections of galaxies in a "dumbbell" shape: the Milky Way and its satellites form ...

, as well as the

Sculptor Group The Sculptor Group is a loose group of galaxies visible near the south galactic pole. The group is one of the closest groups of galaxies to the Local Group; the distance to the center of the group from the Milky Way is approximately . The Sculp ...

, the group of galaxies closest to the Local Group. The

Sculptor Galaxy The Sculptor Galaxy (also known as the Silver Coin, Silver Dollar Galaxy, NGC 253, or Caldwell 65) is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Sculptor. The Sculptor Galaxy is a starburst galaxy, which means that it is currently underg ...

(NGC 253), a

barred spiral galaxy A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars. Bars are found in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies, and generally affect both the motions of stars and interstellar gas within spiral galaxi ...

and the largest member of the group, lies near the border between Sculptor and

. Another prominent member of the group is the

irregular galaxy An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, ...

NGC 55 NGC 55, is a Magellanic type barred spiral galaxy located about 6.5 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. Along with its neighbor NGC 300, it is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, probably lying between the Milky ...

. One unique galaxy in Sculptor is the

Cartwheel Galaxy The Cartwheel Galaxy (also known as ESO 350-40 or PGC 2248) is a lenticular ring galaxy about 500 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. It has a D25 isophotal diameter of , and a mass of about solar masses; its outer ring ...

, at a distance of 500 million

light-years A light-year, alternatively spelled light year, is a large unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equivalent to about 9.46 trillion kilometers (), or 5.88 trillion miles ().One trillion here is taken to be 1012 ...

. The result of a

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

around 300 million years ago, the Cartwheel Galaxy has a core of older, yellow stars, and an outer ring of younger, blue stars, which has a diameter of 100,000 light-years. The smaller galaxy in the collision is now incorporated into the core, after moving from a distance of 250,000 light-years. The shock waves from the collision sparked extensive

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in The "medium" is present further soon.-->interstellar space

in the outer ring.

Namesakes

''Sculptor'' (AK-103) was a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Crater class cargo ship The ''Crater''-class cargo ship were converted EC2-S-C1 type, Liberty ship, Liberty cargo ships, constructed by the United States Maritime Commission (USMC) for use by the United States Navy, US Navy during World War II. The designation 'EC2-S-C1' ...

named after the constellation.

References

Notes Citations Sources * *

External links

The Deep Photographic Guide to the Constellations: Sculptor

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sculptor (Constellation) Southern constellations Constellations listed by Lacaille