The constellation lies in the band of the Milky Way. A strip of galactic dust crosses the constellation from the north and divides the Milky Way into two halves, which reunite further to the southwest. Otherwise, Norma is a very inconspicuous constellation with stars just under 5th mag. The area is 165 square degrees and the center culminates around midnight on May 21, and is not visible from Central Europe. [9, 15]
Norma is a superfluous constellation from the series of technical and scientific devices by the unimaginative Frenchman Lacaille. It was introduced in 1752. Originally the stars belonged to the neighboring figures Ara and Lupus. The constellation boundaries proposed by Lacaille were changed afterwards, so that the stars α and β Normae no longer belong to them today. [7, 21]
Catalogs
Yale Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed. (Hoffleit+, 1991) [154]
HR
B
F
RA [hms]
Dec [dms]
vMag
spType
dMag
Sep ["]
5961
ι1
16 03 31.9
-57 46 31
4.63
A7IV
0.2
0.5
5962
η
16 03 12.9
-49 13 47
4.65
G8III
5980
δ
16 06 29.4
-45 10 24
4.72
Am
5994
ι2
16 09 18.6
-57 56 04
5.57
B9.5V
6019
ζ
16 13 22.6
-55 32 27
5.81
F2III
6024
κ
16 13 28.7
-54 37 50
4.94
G8III
7.9
14.9
6045
θ
16 15 15.3
-47 22 20
5.14
B8V
6058
γ1
16 17 00.9
-50 04 06
4.99
F9Ia
6071
λ
16 19 17.7
-42 40 26
5.45
A3Vn
0.8
0.3
6072
γ2
16 19 50.4
-50 09 20
4.02
G8III
6.0
44.9
6115
ε
16 27 11.1
-47 33 18
4.47
B4V
2.7
22.8
6155
μ
16 34 05.0
-44 02 43
4.94
B0Ia
«Revised New General Catalogue and Index Catalogue», Dr. Wolfgang Steinicke, 2021 [277]