A faint constellation south of Cetus and
Aquarius, invented by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de
Lacaille during his mapping of the southern skies in
1751–52. His original name for it, given on his
planisphere of 1756, was l’Atelier du Sculpteur, the
sculptor’s studio. It consisted of a carved head on a
tripod table, with the artist’s mallet and two chisels on
a block of marble next to it. On Lacaille’s 1763
planisphere the title was Latinized to Apparatus Sculptoris,
since shortened. Bode in 1801 dispensed with the block of
marble and moved the sculptor’s tools to the top of the
table along with the carved bust. The stars of Sculptor are of
fourth magnitude and fainter, and none are named.
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Sculptor, shown under the name Apparatus Sculptoris, in the Uranographia of Johann Bode (1801). For Lacaille’s depiction of the constellation, click here.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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