Pictor

Pictor is a Southern Hemisphere constellation otherwise known as the Painter's Easel. It is one of fourteen new constellations created by French astronomer Abbe Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (Wikipedia) in the 1750s, from his star catalog observations from the Cape of Good Hope and published posthumously in Coelum Australe Stelliferum in 1763.Pictor remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union (Wikipedia).

Pictor (abbrev. = Pic; genitive = Pictoris) covers 247 square degrees or 0.60% of the celestial sphere making it the 59th largest constellation. It contains 49 stars brighter than apparent magnitude 6.5, the brightest star being Alpha Pictoris.

For more information see the entries for Pictor at Wikipedia and U. Wisconsin. For a chart of Pictor, see Pic (IAU).


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