Pronunciation:

(SER-sin-us)

Abbreviation:

Cir

  Genitive:

Circini

Right Ascension:

15 hours

  Declination:

-60 degrees

Area in Square Degrees:

93

Crosses Meridian:

9 PM, June 20

Visible Between Latitudes:

20 and -90 degrees

The constellation Circinus, the drawing compass, is located in the southern hemisphere of the sky. It is visible at latitudes south of 30 degrees from March through May. It is the fourth smallest constellation in the night sky, covering an area of only 93 square degrees. It is bordered by the constellations Centaurus, Musca, Apus, Triangulum Australe, Norma and Lupus.

There is no mythology associated with Circinus. It is one of the 14 southern constellations named by French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after his trip to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in 1756. Its name means “the compass” in Latin. It was named for its shape, which resembles a drawing compass. Lacaille originally named it Le Compass and placed it next to Triangulum Australe and Norma, which he depicted as a surveyor's level, a compass, and a set square and ruler in a set of draftsman's instruments. It was given the name Circinus in 1763 when Lacaille published an updated sky map with Latin names for the constellations.