Phoenix constellation lies in the southern sky. It was named after the phoenix, the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes.
The constellation was originally introduced by the Dutch astronomer and cartographer Petrus Plancius from the observations of the Dutch navigators Frederick Houtman and Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser in the late 16th century. It is a relatively small constellation, but it is the largest among the 12 constellations created and named by Plancius. It was first depicted on his globe in 1598 and later appeared in Johann Bayer’s atlas Uranometria in 1603.
Phoenix constellation is easy to see for anyone in Australia and South Africa during southern hemisphere summer, but generally can’t be observed by anyone living north of the 40th parallel, and lies pretty low in the sky for observers north of the equator.
Phoenix contains several notable deep sky objects, among them the Phoenix Cluster of galaxies, the black hole candidate HLX-1, and Robert’s Quartet, a compact galaxy group.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Phoenix is the 37th constellation in size, occupying an area of 469 square degrees. It is located in the first quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ1) and can be seen at latitudes between +32° and -80°. The neighboring constellations are Eridanus, Grus, Fornax, Hydrus, Sculptor and Tucana.
Phoenix belongs to the Johann Bayer family of constellations, along with Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Tucana and Volans.
Phoenix contains five stars with known planets and does not have any Messier objects. The brightest star in the constellation is Ankaa, Alpha Phoenicis, with an apparent magnitude of 2.40. There is one meteor shower associated with the constellation, the Phoenicids, which occurs around December 5 every year.
MYTH
The mythical bird phoenix is known as the sacred fire bird across many mythologies: Greek, Persian, Arabic, Egyptian, Roman, Turkish, Indian and Chinese among others. The phoenix was said to have resembled an eagle with purple, red and gold feathers, and a scarlet and gold tail.
Ovid wrote in his Metamorphoses that the bird lived for 500 years. When it reached the end of its life span, the phoenix would build itself a nest at the top of a palm tree, using incense and cinnamon bark, then ignite the nest and die in the fire.
A new bird would be born from its father’s body and, according to legend, when the young phoenix was strong enough, it would take the nest and carry it to the temple of Hyperion, who was one of the 12 Titan deities and the lord of light.
In another version of the tale, the young phoenix would embalm the ashes of the dead one in an egg made of myrrh and carry the egg to the Egyptian city Heliopolis. The name Heliopolis means “sun city” in Greek.
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