Reticulum: The Small Net, The Reticule

Pronunciation: rih-TICK-yuh-lum

The Myth Behind the Constellation Reticulum

Reticulum, “the small net”, is one of the 14 constellations created by Nicolas-Louis de La Caille while mapping the southern-hemisphere stars in the mid-eighteenth century.  He originally titled it le Reticule Romboide, “the rhomboidal reticule”and it represented the reticule in the eyepiece of his telescope, which was used to judge star positions.  La Caille charted over 10,000 stars while he was at his observatory in Cape Town, South Africa.  The name of the constellation was Latinized to Reticulus for his 1763 published work, Coelum Australe Stelliferum.

Reticulum Constellation Points of Interest

Interesting stars and objects.

Bright Stars in Reticulum

There are no stars in Reticulum with magnitude of 3.0 or brighter.