Pavo constellation lies in the southern sky. Its name means “the peacock” in Latin.
The constellation was introduced by the Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius from the observations of Dutch navigators Frederick de Houtman and Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser in the late 16th century. Pavo was first depicted in 1598 on Plancius’ globe and first appeared in a star atlas in 1603, in Johann Bayer’s Uranometria.
In Australia, a part of the constellation is known as “the Saucepan” and used as a guide to finding the south. Pavo is notable for its bright star Peacock, the nearby solar analog Delta Pavonis, the interacting galaxies NGC 6872 and IC 4970, and several other deep sky objects.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Pavo is the 44th constellation in size, occupying an area of 378 square degrees. It is located in the fourth quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +30° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Apus, Ara, Indus, Octans and Telescopium.
Pavo belongs to the Johann Bayer family of constellations, along with Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Phoenix, Tucana and Volans.
Pavo contains five stars with confirmed planets and has no Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Peacock, Alpha Pavonis, with an apparent magnitude of 1.94. There is one meteor shower associated with the constellation: the Delta Pavonids.
MYTH
The constellation is believed to represent the Java green peacock which the Dutch navigators de Houtman and Keyser probably encountered on their journey to the East Indies.
In Greek mythology, the peacock was Hera’s sacred bird. The goddess drove through the air in a chariot drawn by peacocks. There is a myth specifically associated with the peacock’s tail and how it came to have eyes on it.
When Zeus fell in love with Io, a nymph and priestess of Hera in Argos, he turned her into a cow to hide her from Hera when the goddess almost caught the two. Hera was suspicious nonetheless and tasked the giant Argus with keeping an eye on the heifer. Argus had a hundred eyes, which made him an excellent guard. (He is also sometimes known as Argus Panoptes, the epithet Panoptes meaning “all seeing.”)
Argus tied Io to an olive tree in Nemea, and Zeus dispatched Hermes to free the nymph from the giant. Hermes obliged and came to Earth disguised as a shepherd. He spent a day telling Argus stories and playing reed pipes until all of Argus’ eyes became tired. When the giant fell asleep, Hermes hit him with a stone and killed him. To honour Argus’ memory, Hera placed his eyes on her sacred bird’s tail.
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