The Fornax

[FOR-naks]   An obscure constellation introduced by the Frenchman Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after his trip to the Cape of Good Hope to observe the southern stars in 1751–52. It lies tucked into a bend in the riverEridanus.

Lacaille originally called it le Fourneau on his 1756 planisphere and depicted it as a chemist's furnace used for distillation. The name was Latinized to Fornax Chimiae on the 1763 edition of his planisphere. Bode, on his atlas, showed a far more elaborate set-up which he called Apparatus Chemicus. In 1845 the English astronomer Francis Baily shortened its name to Fornax in his British Association Catalogue, following a suggestion by John Herschel, and it has been known as that ever since.