Pictor - The Easel

Learn about the constellation Pictor - The Easel, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

Pictor is a small, faint constellation located between the brilliant Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Location: Southern Constellation 4h RA 50° Dec

Pictor has attracted attention in recent years because of its second-brightest star β Pictoris, 62.9 light-years distant, which is surrounded by an unusual dust disk rich in carbon. Kapteyn's Star, a nearby red dwarf at a distance of 12.78 light years, is the closest halo star known.

Mythology

The French astronomer Abbe Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille first described Pictor as le Chevalet et la Palette (the easel and palette) in 1756. The German astronomer Johann Bode called it Pluteum Pictoris. The name was shortened to its current form in 1845 by the English astronomer Francis Baily at the suggestion of his countryman Sir John Herschel.

Deep Space Objects

NGC 1705 is an irregular dwarf galaxy 17 million light-years from Earth. It is one of the most active star-forming galaxies in the nearby universe, even though its rate of star formation peaked around 30 million years ago.