Apus, the bird of paradise, resides in the southern celestial hemisphere and is a small constellation. First depicted by Petrus Plancius in 1598, charted by Johann Bayer in 1603 but updated in 1756 by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille giving the brighter stars their Bayer designations.
Petrus Plancius published 12 constellations, Apus was one of them, from the observation of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman who was sailing on the first Dutch trading expedition.
The original name was ‘Apis Indica’ but his fellows Johannes Kepler and Jakob Bartsch called it ‘Apus’ or ‘Avis Indica’. Apus, derived from ‘apous’ meaning ‘without feet’ in Greek refers to the western misconception that the bird had no feet.
The constellation lost several stars which was used to form Octans in the mid-1750s by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille.
Petrus Plancius published 12 constellations, Apus was one of them, from the observation of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman who was sailing on the first Dutch trading expedition.
The original name was ‘Apis Indica’ but his fellows Johannes Kepler and Jakob Bartsch called it ‘Apus’ or ‘Avis Indica’. Apus, derived from ‘apous’ meaning ‘without feet’ in Greek refers to the western misconception that the bird had no feet.
The constellation lost several stars which was used to form Octans in the mid-1750s by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille.
Apus is a small constellation, not the smallest but not far from it. Being 67th of the 88 constellations in size. This constellation is viewable by the southern hemisphere for anyone south of 7 degrees N.
DSO There are two globular clusters in this constellation, NGC 6101and IC 4499, although NGC 6101 sits between Apus and Triangulum Australe and could be in either. Apus also contains several galaxies including
Boarding constellations
Stars with planets – 2 |