Grus


Grus


English nameCrane

Major
stars
alpha GruisAl Na'irmagn. 2,2RA: 22h 08m 13.98sDec: -46° 57' 39.5"
beta Gruismagn. 2,2RA: 22h 42m 40.04sDec: -46° 53' 04.9"
gamma Gruismagn. 3,2RA: 21h 53m 55.72sDec: -37° 21' 53.4"

DescriptionConstellation of middling dimensions, situated to the south of Piscis Austrinus. It doesn't contain particular heavenly objects, except two double stars visible to the naked eye: delta Gruis, of fourth magnitude, and my Gruis, of fifth magnitude.

Mythology
and history
The constellation was drawn by the Dutch navigators Pieters Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederik de Houtman towards the end of the XVI century. In a heavenly map of Petrus Plancius it had the name of Phoenicopterus.

The name of alpha Gruis, Al Na'ir, derives from Arab and it means "bright tail of the fish": the Arabs, in fact, extended the tail of Piscis Austrinus up to this zone of the sky.


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