Sculptor is a faint southern constellation that holds the south galactic pole, the direction straight out of the Milky Way’s disc, and a dwarf galaxy.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 4 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Delta Sculptoris, 137 light-years (42.1 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Alpha Sculptoris, 777 light-years (238 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 5.6 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Sculptor
Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille introduced it as the sculptor’s workshop, one of the arts he set among the southern stars, and the name has since been shortened. Its stars are faint and form no clear picture, lying between Fomalhaut, Phoenix and Cetus.
Sculptor matters for where it points. The south galactic pole lies within it: looking toward Sculptor means looking straight out of the Milky Way’s disc, through the least possible dust and stars, into intergalactic space. That makes it a window onto galaxies. The Sculptor Dwarf, a faint satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, lies in this direction, as does the bright spiral known as the Sculptor Galaxy.
Sculptor is best seen on spring evenings in the southern hemisphere, the northern autumn. From mid-northern latitudes it lies low in the south.
What you see in the piece
With CONSTELLATIONS (N) on and the HUMAN EYE view (E) left behind, the figure separates as you fly, its nearest drawn star several times closer than its farthest. Out here the stars thin out fast, because this is the direction out of the disc.
Questions
Where is the south galactic pole?
The south galactic pole lies in Sculptor. Looking that way means looking straight out of the Milky Way’s disc, which is why so many distant galaxies are seen there.
How far away are the stars of Sculptor?
The nearest star of the figure is Delta Sculptoris, 137 light-years (42.1 pc); the farthest is Alpha Sculptoris, 777 light-years (238 pc). The farthest is 5.6 × farther than the nearest.