Constellation, Ret
Reticulum: the Reticle
Reticulum covers 114 square degrees of sky, the 82nd largest of the 88. Its brightest star is star HIP 19780. It is best placed in the evening sky in January.
Show Reticulum in the live sky
Reticulum at a glance
| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Ret |
| Meaning | the Reticle |
| Pronounced | rih-TICK-yuh-lum |
| Genitive, used in star names | Reticuli (for example a Bayer name such as α Reticuli) |
| Area | 114 square degrees, number 82 of 88 by size |
| Stars to magnitude 6 in our catalogue | 16 |
| Brightest star | star HIP 19780, magnitude 3.3 |
| Best seen | Evenings in January, when it is highest at 9 pm |
| Declination range | -67° to -53° |
| Borders | Dorado, Horologium, Hydrus |
Where on Earth you can see Reticulum
Reticulum spans declinations -67° to -53°. Every part of it rises above the horizon at some moment for observers between latitudes 90°S and 23°N. Some of it can be seen from latitudes 90°S to 37°N. South of 37°S none of it ever sets. This is geometry only: it ignores haze, hills and buildings near the horizon.
From six cities
| City | Latitude | Visibility | Middle at its highest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pune | 18.5°N | All of it rises | 12° |
| New York | 40.7°N | Never rises | below the horizon |
| London | 51.5°N | Never rises | below the horizon |
| Tromsø | 69.6°N | Never rises | below the horizon |
| Tokyo | 35.7°N | Only part of it rises | below the horizon |
| Sydney | 33.9°S | All of it rises | 64° |
Reticulum's named stars
None of the stars brighter than magnitude 6 in Reticulum has a name approved by the IAU Working Group on Star Names.
How these facts were found
The name, meaning and boundaries are the IAU's. Area, borders and the latitude ranges are computed from those boundaries; the brightest star and the star count come from a magnitude-6 star catalogue; star names are matched to the catalogue by Hipparcos number and checked by position. The month is when Reticulum's middle crosses the north-south line of the sky at 9 pm local solar time. See How we know.
Sources
- IAU: The Constellations. Names, meanings, pronunciations and boundaries
- IAU Working Group on Star Names. The official names of stars
- astronomy-engine. The MIT licensed library that does the calculations, run on the page's build machine and in the app
- HYG database v4.4 (astronexus). Distances, spectral types and luminosities, licence CC BY-SA 4.0