Pictor Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

Pictor is classified as one of the 88 modern constellations, meaning it has no associated history in ancient Western cultures because it was not visible in those regions.

It is known that Pictor is one of the faintest constellations and that most of its stars cannot be seen with the naked eye, so it was necessary to wait for telescopes to be invented to see it.

French astronomer Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille first described the constellation Pictor as le Chevalet et la Palette meaning "the easel and the palette," in 1756.

Lacaille devised fourteen new constellations in unexplored regions of the Celestial Southern Hemisphere that were not visible from Europe. All the new constellations honored instruments that symbolized the Age of Inventions.

He labeled the constellation Equuleus Pictorius in his 1763 letter describing it with the word "Equuleus," meaning petite horse or easel, a tool formerly used by artists. This 3-legged wooden base served to place their canvases.

The German astronomer Johann Bode named it the constellation Pluteum Pictoris and later, in 1845, the English astronomer Francis Baily shortened the name of the constellation to Pictor.

In 1922 the International Astronomical Association added the constellation Pictor to the 88 official night sky constellations. Since then, it has not changed its boundaries or its name.

Currently, the constellation Pictor covers an area of 247 square degrees and ranks 59th in size among the 88 constellations of the night sky.

Pictor resides in the first quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ1) between latitudes 26° N and 90° S. We can see the night sky's constellation from all countries in the southern earth and some countries of the northern hemisphere.

The constellation Pictor is visible in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.

Pictor is not visible in regions above 26° N, such as Canada, the southern US, Europe, Russia, Greenland, Japan, and Alaska.

The best month to visualize the constellation Pictor is in January, which is visible during the winter in the northern hemisphere. While in the southern hemisphere, it is visible during the summer.

The constellation Pictor is of medium size. However, it is very dim since it does not have first or second magnitude stars, so to find it, you can support yourself using the star Canopus, the second brightest in the sky.

The easiest way to locate the constellation Pictor is to locate the second brightest star in the night sky, Canopus, located next to the constellation Pictor.

If we move a straight line from the star Canopus to the Large Magellanic Cloud, we will find the constellation Pictor right in the middle of the two.

The constellations bordering Pictor are Caelum, Carina, Columba, Dorado, Puppis, and Volans.

In addition, Pictor belongs to the family of constellations of Lacaille; these include Antlia, Caelum, Circinus, Fornax, Horologium, Mensa, Microscopium, Norma, Octans, Reticulum, Sculptor, and Telescopium.

The constellation Pictor officially contains 49 stars, of which 4 form the central figure of the constellation; these are Alpha Pictoris, Beta Pictoris, Gamma Pictoris, and Delta Pictoris.

With an apparent magnitude of +3.24, it is the brightest star in the constellation Pictor; it is 99 light-years from the Solar System.

Alpha Pictoris is a white star of spectral type A7IV. Its luminosity, 35 times greater than that of the Sun, indicates that it is a subgiant star; in its core, the hydrogen is running out, and the star is beginning to grow, its radius being 3.1 times greater than the solar radius.

It is the second brightest star in the constellation Pictor with an apparent magnitude of +3.91. It is a star of spectral type A5V located about 60 light-years (19.28 parsecs) from Earth.

It is estimated to be less than 20 million years old. Its mass is 1.8 times the mass of the Sun; its luminosity is 8.7 times the solar luminosity, and its surface temperature is 8500 K. It has a protoplanetary disk that was discovered in 1984.

In the scientific field, this star is of great importance since it has allowed us to observe the evolutionary process of the planets.

Pictor is also home to several objects from the deep sky. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies.

In the case of Pictor being a tiny and faint constellation, it has hardly any deep-sky objects, the most notable being the galaxy NGC 170.

It is an irregular dwarf galaxy in the constellation Pictor 17 million light-years away from Earth and is the most notable deep-sky object in the constellation.

A study of the stars in NGC 1705 and other nearby irregular galaxies has shown that these galaxies are several billion years old. NGC 1705 is likely to be about 13.5 billion years old, as old as the universe itself.

• Pictor is one of the constellations located in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name comes from Latin and means "Painter."
• Pictor is one of the 88 modern constellations, so its name is not derived from a myth, history, or ancient legend like the most famous constellations.
• The constellation Pictor lies between latitudes 26° N and 90° S. The best month to observe the constellation is in January.
•  The easiest way to locate the constellation Pictor is by drawing a  straight line from the Canopus star to the Large Magellanic Cloud. We will find the constellation Pictor right in the middle of the two.
• The brightest star in the constellation Pictor is Alpha Pictoris (α Pic /HD 50241/HR 2550), with an apparent magnitude of +3.24.
• The most notable deep sky body of the constellation Pictor is the Galaxy NGC 170.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/pictor-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-pictor.html
3. https://theplanets.org/constellations/pictor-constellation-features-facts/
4. https://www.britannica.com/place/Pictor