Corvus, the Crow, is a small ancient constellation of the spring sky, a compact four-sided figure of stars that is easy to spot south of Virgo.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 5 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Alchiba, 48.7 light-years (14.9 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Epsilon Corvi, 318 light-years (97.5 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 6.5 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Corvus
Corvus is one of the constellations catalogued by Ptolemy. In the Greek story Apollo sent the crow with a cup to fetch water; it dawdled, came back late with a water snake as its excuse, and was set in the sky beside Crater, the cup, and Hydra, the snake, for ever unable to drink. The three figures still lie together.
Its four main stars, Gienah, Kraz, Algorab and Epsilon Corvi, form a distinct quadrilateral in an otherwise empty region. Gienah is the brightest; Alchiba, which carries the Alpha label, is fainter and sits just outside the box. Within the constellation’s borders lie the Antennae Galaxies, a pair of colliding galaxies whose long tails of stars were pulled out by their encounter.
What you see in the piece
Fly out and the tidy four-sided shape breaks: Alchiba is the nearest of its stars and Epsilon Corvi lies several times deeper, so the crow’s body turns out to be stars at very different distances lined up only by our point of view.
Questions
How do you find Corvus?
Look south-west of Spica in Virgo on spring evenings in the north, or autumn evenings in the south: the four main stars of the crow form a small, slanting quadrilateral.
How far away are the stars of Corvus?
The nearest star of the figure is Alchiba, 48.7 light-years (14.9 pc) away, and the farthest is Epsilon Corvi, 318 light-years (97.5 pc).