Constellation Pictor (Painter)
Date:
Southern Hemisphere
Winter
Painter
Pictor
The Painter (lat. Pictor), also known as "Equuleus Pictoris", is a faint constellation of the South. Only two of its stars are brighter than the fourth magnitude.
How to spot Pictor
Surrounded by the constellations Columba, Caelum, Doradus, Carina and Puppis, Pictor spreads over an area of 247 square degrees. In winter it can be seen in the southern hemisphere.
History
After the invention of the telescope, in the 18th century 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. One of them was the painter's easel.