Fornax

Fornax is a term used in astronomy to refer to several objects associated with the southern sky, named after the Latin word for furnace. It is also the name of a southern constellation introduced by the French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The constellation lies in the southern celestial hemisphere and contains a variety of deep-sky objects, including galaxies and star clusters.

The Fornax Dwarf Galaxy is a dwarf spheroidal satellite of the Milky Way. It lies about 460,000 light-years from the Milky Way (roughly 140 kiloparsecs) and is characterized by a low gas content and little to no current star formation. The galaxy is dominated by dark matter and hosts six globular clusters, known as Fornax 1 through Fornax 6, along with several distinct stellar populations that indicate an extended history of star formation.

The Fornax Galaxy Cluster is a separate galaxy cluster located in the constellation Fornax, at a distance of about 60 million light-years (around 20 megaparsecs). The cluster is centered on the giant elliptical galaxy NGC 1399 and contains a few hundred member galaxies. It features an X-ray emitting intracluster medium and includes notable members such as the radio galaxy NGC 1316, also known as Fornax A.

In summary, Fornax can denote a constellation, a nearby dwarf galaxy with multiple globular clusters, or a relatively nearby galaxy cluster, all named for their association with the southern sky and the historical term Fornax.