Phoenix is a minor constellation in the southern sky. Named after the mythical phoenix, it was first depicted on a celestial atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. The brightest star, Alpha Phoenicis, is named Ankaa, an Arabic word meaning ‘the Phoenix’ It is an orange giant of apparent magnitude 2. 4.
About Phoenix (constellation) in brief
Phoenix is a minor constellation in the southern sky. Named after the mythical phoenix, it was first depicted on a celestial atlas by Johann Bayer in his 1603 Uranometria. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille charted the brighter stars and gave their Bayer designations in 1756. The constellations Phoenix, Grus, Pavo and Tucana, are known as the Southern Birds. The brightest star, Alpha Phoenicis, is named Ankaa, an Arabic word meaning ‘the Phoenix’ It is an orange giant of apparent magnitude 2. 4. The constellation has ten star systems with known planets and the recently discovered galaxy clusters El Gordo and the Phoenix Cluster, located 7. 2 and 5. 7 billion light years away respectively. It is most visible from locations such as Australia in the South Hemisphere spring. Most of the stars can be located by, forming, a triangle of bright stars Achernar, Beta Cauteti, Lambda Lambda and Omega. The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 1922, is ‘Phe’. The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 10 segments.
In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 23h 26. 5m and 02h 25. 0m, while the declination coordinates are between −39. 31° and −57. 84°. This means it remains below the horizon to anyone living north of the 40th parallel in the Northern Hemisphere, and remains low in sky for anyone living south of the equator. Most and late in the Southern Hemisphere during late spring and late summer, the constellation lies within, and can be found by, the triangle of stars Achersnar, Fomalhauti, Psi Lambda, Omicron Psi and Omega, which is roughly in the centre of the A curved line of stars comprising the stars Mu, Mu, Beta, Nu, Gamma and Gamma Phoeni. It was seen by the ancient Arabs as a boat by Julius Schiller as portraying Aaron the High Priest. Phoenix is the radiant of two annual meteor showers: the Phoeningids in December, and the July Phoenerids. It first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The name Den voghel Fenicx, symbolising the phoenix of classical mythology, was coined sometime after 1800.
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This page is based on the article Phoenix (constellation) published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
