Grus, the Crane, is a southern constellation of the spring sky, a long-necked bird marked by a bright blue-white star and a red giant side by side.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 7 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Alnair, 101 light-years (31 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Delta¹ Gruis, 309 light-years (94.9 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 3.1 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Grus
Grus was drawn from the observations of the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and given its form by Petrus Plancius. It is one of the more striking of the southern additions, a long, slanting line of stars ending in a pair of wings, near the bright star Fomalhaut.
Its two brightest stars make a pleasing contrast: Alnair is hot and blue-white, while Tiaki is a cool red giant, and their colours are easy to see side by side. Delta Gruis is a wide pair of giants, one yellow and one red, that a sharp eye can split. Grus is best seen in the evening in the southern spring, the northern autumn, when it lies low in the south from Europe.
What you see in the piece
With CONSTELLATIONS on, fly out: Alnair is the nearest star of the crane and Delta¹ Gruis lies several times deeper. The bird’s neck, seen end-on from Earth, turns out to stretch far out into space.
Questions
What are the brightest stars in Grus?
Alnair, a hot blue-white star, and Tiaki, a red giant. Alnair, the nearest star of the figure, is 101 light-years (31 pc) away.
How deep is the figure of Grus?
Its farthest star, Delta¹ Gruis, is 309 light-years (94.9 pc) away, 3.1 × farther than Alnair.