Phoenix



Phoenix is a southern constellation which appears highest in the midnight sky in the months around October.

It was among a dozen constellations introduced by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman which celebrate rare or exotic animals, and first appeared on star maps in 1598.

It contains one second magnitude star, Ankaa, but is otherwise rather faint. Lying well away from the Milky Way, its only deep sky offerings are faint galaxies.

Arabs saw this formation as representing young ostriches, Al Ri’āl, or as a griffin or eagle. In addition, the same group of stars was sometimes imagined by the Arabs as a boat, Al Zaurak, on the nearby river Eridanus.

In the Indian astronomical system, Pheonix is known as ಚಕೋರ (Chakora)
 

 

Phoenix contains:
  • Stars
    • Ankaa (mag 2.4)
    • β-Phe (mag 3.4)
    • γ-Phe (mag 3.4)
    • ε-Phe (mag 3.9)
    • κ-Phe (mag 3.9)
    • δ-Phe (mag 3.9)
    • ζ-Phe (mag 4.0)
    • η-Phe (mag 4.4)
    • ψ-Phe (mag 4.4)
    • μ-Phe (mag 4.6)
    • ι-Phe (mag 4.7)
    • HD 222095 (mag 4.7)
    • λ¹-Phe (mag 4.8)
    • HD 12055 (mag 4.8)
    • ν-Phe (mag 5.0)
    • φ-Phe (mag 5.1)
    • π-Phe (mag 5.1)
    • χ-Phe (mag 5.2)
    • σ-Phe (mag 5.2)
    • υ-Phe (mag 5.2)
    • ρ-Phe (mag 5.2)
    • HD 6245 (mag 5.4)
    • HD 8651 (mag 5.4)
    • HD 2490 (mag 5.4)
    • 120-Phe (mag 5.5)
  • Open Clusters
    None
  • Globular Clusters
    None
  • Galaxy

View Phoenix in 3D


Source: Wikipedia, in-the-sky.org
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall


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