Corvus


Corvus


English nameCrow

Major
stars
beta Corvimagn. 2,8RA: 12h 34m 23.24sDec: -23° 23' 48.1"
gamma CorviGienahmagn. 2,8RA: 12h 15m 48.40sDec: -17° 32' 31.0"
delta CorviAlgorabmagn. 3,1RA: 12h 15m 48.40sDec: -16° 30' 55.3"
epsilon Corvimagn. 3,2RA: 12h 10m 07.50sDec: -22° 37' 11.0"

DescriptionSmall constellation to the south of Virgo. It is characterized by a trapezium of stars of about third magnitude.

There are no particular objects, besides a double star, delta Crows, a white star accompanied by a star of eighth magnitude: it is separable with a small telescope.


Mythology
and history
The history of the crow is told by Ovid in the Fasti. Apollo sent the crow to take some water from a source with a cup. While he was in flight, the animal saw a fig-tree loaded with still sour fruits and forgetting his charge stopped to wait that the figs matured. After quite a lot of days, the crow glutted himself with those fruits and then he looked for a pretext to justify himself to Apollo: he found an hydra and he brought it to the god, telling him that snake prevented him from drawing water from the source. But Apollo, who had the faculty to know the truth, became aware of the lie and condemned the crow to suffer the thirst forever.

And to keep memory of this circumstance, the god set in the sky together Corvus, Crater and Hydra. The crow is represented while pecking the scales of the hydra, that prevents him from reaching the near cup.


Back to constellations page.