English name | Crane | ||||
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Major stars | alpha Gruis | Al Na'ir | magn. 2,2 | RA: 22h 08m 13.98s | Dec: -46° 57' 39.5" |
beta Gruis | magn. 2,2 | RA: 22h 42m 40.04s | Dec: -46° 53' 04.9" | ||
gamma Gruis | magn. 3,2 | RA: 21h 53m 55.72s | Dec: -37° 21' 53.4" | ||
Description | Constellation 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. |