This small and insignificant constellation
in the southern hemisphere is one of the inventions of the
18th-century French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. He
introduced it on his map of the southern stars in 1756 under
the French name les Burins. On his map of 1763 this was
Latinized to Caelum Scalptorium, since shortened simply to
Caelum. Lacaille described it as a pair of crossed burins
(sharp engraving tools) connected by a ribbon. There are no
legends associated with the constellation and its stars are
faint.
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Caelum shown as Caela Scalptoris on the Uranographia of Johann Bode, who added two scribing tools to the pair of burins described by Lacaille. For Lacaille’s original depiction, see here.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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