Constellation Norma (Level)
Date:
Southern Hemisphere
Summer
Level
Norma
The Level (lat. Norma) is an inconspicuous constellation of the southern hemisphere. The brightest star is a binary star and 4.0 mag bright. In the constellation you may find many foggy objects of the Milky Way.
How to spot Norma
With 165 square degrees, Norma can be seen in summer. It is located south of the Scorpius, between the constellations Lupus, Circinus, Triangulum Australe and Ara.
History
After the invention of the telescope, the French astronomer Nicolas de Lacaille named some constellations of the southern hemisphere that had not been recognized before. Unlike the 48 constellations of antiquity, which bear the names of mythological figures, he often used the name of technological novelties for the new constellations. Out of faint stars of the constellations Lupus, Scorpius and Ara, de Lacaille formed the Level and presented it under the name "Norma et Regula". In 1930, some of those stars were assigned to Scorpius again, so that there are no stars of Norma called α or β.