Pronunciation:

(ree-TIK-u-lum)

Abbreviation:

Ret

  Genitive:

Reticuli

Right Ascension:

4 hours

  Declination:

-60 degrees

Area in Square Degrees:

114

Crosses Meridian:

9 PM, December 30

Visible Between Latitudes:

20 and -90 degrees

The constellation Reticulum, the reticle, is located in the southern hemisphere of the sky. It is completely visible at latitudes south of 23 degrees north from October through December. It is best seen in northern latitudes in January. It is a very small constellation filling an area of only 114 square degrees. This makes it the seventh smallest constellation in the night sky. It is bordered by the constellations Dorado, Horologium and Hydrus.

There are no myths associated with Reticulum. It is one of 14 southern constellations named by the French astronomer Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. Its name means “the reticle” in Latin. It represents a small net of corsshairs on the eyepiece of a telescope that is used to measure the positions of stars. The constellation was originally introduced by the German astronomer Isaac Habrecht II on a celestial globe he published in 1621. He originally named the constellation Rhombus. Lacaille renamed it to le Réticule Rhomboide to commemorate the reticle in his telescope eyepiece. The name was later Latinized to Reticulum when Lacaille published his star catalog.