Fornax (constellation) in the context of "Eridanus (constellation)"

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⭐ Core Definition: Fornax (constellation)

Fornax (/ˈfɔːrnæks/) is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere, partly ringed by the celestial river Eridanus. Its name is Latin for furnace. It was named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1756. Fornax is one of the 88 modern constellations.

The three brightest stars—Alpha, Beta and Nu Fornacis—form a flattened triangle facing south. With an apparent magnitude of 3.91, Alpha Fornacis is the brightest star in Fornax. Six star systems have been found to have exoplanets. The Fornax Dwarf galaxy is a small faint satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. NGC 1316 is a relatively close radio galaxy.

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Fornax (constellation) in the context of NGC 1427A

NGC 1427A, also known as ESO 358-49, or ESO 358- G 049, is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Fornax. Its distance modulus has been estimated using the globular cluster luminosity function to be 31.01 ± 0.21 which is about 52 Mly. It is the brightest dwarf irregular member of the Fornax Cluster and is in the foreground of the cluster's central galaxy NGC 1399.

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Fornax (constellation) in the context of Nu Fornacis

Nu Fornacis, Latinized from ν Fornacis, is a single, variable star in the southern constellation of Fornax. It is blue-white in hue and faintly visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude that fluctuates around 4.69. This body is located approximately 370 light years distant from the Sun based on parallax, and is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +18.5 km/s. It is a candidate member of the Pisces-Eridanus stellar stream, which suggests an age of 120 million years or less.

This object is an Ap star with a stellar classification of B9.5IIIspSi matching a late B-type giant star. The 'Si' suffix indicates an abundance anomaly of silicon. It is an Alpha Canum Venaticorum variable that ranges from magnitude 4.68 down to 4.73 with a period of 1.89 days – the same as its rotational period. It is 3.65 times as massive and 245 times as luminous as the Sun, with 3.44 times the Sun's diameter.

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Fornax (constellation) in the context of NGC 1399

NGC 1399 is a large elliptical galaxy in the Southern constellation Fornax, the central galaxy in the Fornax Cluster. The galaxy is 66 million light-years away from Earth. With a diameter of approximately 365,000 light-years, it is one of the largest galaxies in the Fornax Cluster and way larger than the Milky Way. William Herschel discovered this galaxy on October 22, 1835.

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