Norma

Norma is a Southern Hemisphere constellation otherwise known as the Carpenter's Square. It is one of fourteen new constellations created by French astronomer Abbe Nicolas Louis de Lacaille (Wikipedia) in the 1750s, from his star catalog observations from the Cape of Good Hope and published posthumously in Coelum Australe Stelliferum in 1763.Norma remains one of the 88 modern constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union (Wikipedia).

Norma (abbrev. = Nor; genitive = Normae) covers 165 square degrees or 0.40% of the celestial sphere making it the 74th largest constellation. It contains 44 stars brighter than apparent magnitude 6.5, the brightest star being Gamma2 Normae.

For more information see the entries for Norma at Wikipedia and U. Wisconsin. For a chart of Norma, see Nor (IAU).


AstroPixels Links

| Constellations Photo Gallery | Constellations List |Bright Stars Gallery | 50 Brightest Stars List |
 | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Diffuse Nebulae | Planetary Nebulae | Supernovae | Galaxies | 
 | Messier Catalog Photo Gallery | Messier Catalog | Caldwell Catalog Photo Gallery | Caldwell Catalog | 
 | AstroPixels Photo Index |