Caelum is a faint constellation in the southern sky, introduced in the 18th century by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name means "the chisel" in Latin, and it was formerly known as Cæla Sculptoris, "the sculptor's chisel". It is the eighth smallest constellation, with an area just less than that of Corona Australis.
Caelum is a faint constellation, having no star brighter than fourth magnitude. Its brightest star is the magnitude 4.45 α Caeli. A small telescope splits γ Caeli into a magnitude 4.5 red giant and a magnitude 6.34 white giant. Larger telescopes are needed to see several NGC objects, all galaxies, but none brighter than magnitude 11.5 or larger than 3 arcminutes. Most notable galaxies are NGC 1571, NGC 1679 and IC 2106.
| Constellation | |
 List of stars in Caelum | |
| Abbreviation | Cae |
|---|---|
| Genitive | Caeli |
| Pronunciation | /ˈsiːləm/, genitive /ˈsiːlaɪ/ |
| Symbolism | the chisel |
| Right ascension | 5 h |
| Declination | −40° |
| Quadrant | SQ1 |
| Area | 125 sq. deg. (81st) |
| Main stars | 4 |
| Bayer/Flamsteed stars | 8 |
| Stars with planets | 0 |
| Stars brighter than 3.00m | 0 |
| Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 1 |
| Brightest star | α Cae (4.45m) |
| Nearest star | RR Cae (26.31 ly, 8.07 pc) |
| Messier objects | 0 |
| Meteor showers | None |
| Bordering constellations | Columba Lepus Eridanus Horologium Dorado Pictor |
| Visible at latitudes between +40° and −90°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of January | |
