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SCULPTOR
The Sculptor
Sculptor - Johann Bode's Uranographia, 1801
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In 1751, French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille made a famous expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, where he spent a full year making the first official survey of the southern skies. He charted the positions of approximately 10,000 stars, and introduced fourteen new southern constellations to accommodate them. Despite his obvious commitment to the scientific method, his imagination must have been extraordinary to see the obscure figures he came up with, and the constellation Sculptor is no exception. Below is his original depiction of the Apparatus Sculptoris, as he initially called it, consisting of a bust on a three legged table, and a block of marble with hammer and chisels on it.
Despite the vagary of the figure, and the faintness of the stars (none over fourth magnitude), the constellation Sculptor does have some impressive highlights.
NGC 253 is one of the brightest spiral galaxies in the sky with a magnitude of 7.1, making it a fine sight in a backyard telescope. It is also one of the closest spirals, only 10 million light years away.
NGC 55 is what's known as an irregular galaxy, without a defined form. With a magnitude of 8.8, it is still fairly bright, and easy to find in a small scope. It is also one of the closest galaxies to Earth, only 8 light years away.
NGC 300 is closer still, a mere 6 million light years away. It is also nice and bright at magnitude 9.0, and having the added benefit of being face-on, is a particularly fine sight in a backyard telescope. Through a large scope, it is truly a spectacular sight.
At a distance of 13 million light years, and a magnitude of 9.1, is the chaotic spiral galaxy NGC 7793.
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