Corvus constellation is located in the southern sky. Its name means “crow” or “raven” in Latin.
Corvus constellation represents Apollo’s sacred bird in Greek mythology. It was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
Corvus does not contain many bright stars and deep sky objects, but it is home to a very famous pair of interacting galaxies, the Antennae Galaxies. The Antennae Galaxies show a likely future of the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxy (M31) when the two collide.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Corvus is the 70th constellation in size, occupying an area of 184 square degrees. It is located in the third quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ3) and can be seen from latitudes between +60° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Crater, Hydra, and Virgo.
Corvus belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, along with Aquila, Ara, Centaurus, Corona Australis, Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hercules, Hydra, Lupus, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Sagitta, Scutum, Sextans, Serpens, Triangulum Australe, and Vulpecula.
Corvus has one star with known planets and contains no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Gienah, Gamma Corvi, with an apparent magnitude of 2.59. There is one meteor shower associated with the constellation; the Corvids.
MYTH
The constellation Corvus represents the raven (or crow), Apollo’s sacred bird in Greek mythology. According to the myth, the raven originally had white feathers. In one story, Apollo told the bird to watch over Coronis, one of his lovers, who was pregnant at the time.
Coronis gradually lost interest in Apollo and fell in love with a mortal man, Ischys. When the raven reported the affair to Apollo, the god was so enraged that the bird did nothing to stop it that he flung a curse on it, scorching the raven’s feathers. That, the legend goes, is why all ravens are black. Apollo then sent his sister Artemis to kill Coronis. Before Coronis’ body was burned, the unborn child, Asclepius, was cut out of her womb and given to the centaur Chiron, who raised him. Asclepius grew up to be a famous healer and is represented by the constellation Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer.
The Greek Corvus was borrowed from the mythical Babylonian raven, MUL.UGA.MUSHEN, which was usually depicted perched on the tail of a serpent. Babylonians associated the constellation with Adad, the god of rain and storm, because its stars would rise before the rainy season, in the fall, in the second millennium.
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