Pavo Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

Pavo is classified as one of the 88 modern constellations, meaning it has no associated history in ancient Western cultures because it was not visible in those regions.

It is believed that the Wardaman inhabitants of the Northern Territory in Australia saw the stars of Pavo and the neighboring constellation of Ara as flying foxes. However, there is still no consensus on whether they were those regions of the sky.

It is known that Pavo is one of the faintest constellations and that most of its stars cannot be seen with the naked eye, so it was necessary to wait for telescopes to be invented to see it.

Pavo was one of twelve constellations established by astronomer Petrus Plancius from observations of the southern sky by explorers Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman.

Dirkszoon and Houtman explored the East Indies and sailed on the first Dutch commercial expedition, Eerste Schipvaart.

Pavo first appeared in a 35 cm (14 in diameter) celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius.

The first representation of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in the records of the German cartographer Johann Bayer in 1603. Houtman later included it in his catalog of southern stars the same year under the Dutch name De Pauw, "The Peacock," meaning Pavo.

In 1922 the International Astronomical Association added the constellation Pavo to the 88 official night sky constellations list. Since then, it has not undergone modifications in its boundaries or name.

In this way, Pavo covers 378 degrees from the sky. This places it 44th in size among the 88 constellations in the night sky, meaning it is medium-sized.

Pavo resides in the fourth quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ4) between latitudes 30° N and 90° S, which means that we can see the constellation in the night sky from all the countries of the southern hemisphere of the earth, and some countries of the northern hemisphere.

Pavo's constellation is visible in the Americas, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica.

Pavo is not visible in regions above 30°N such as Canada, Europe, Russia, Greenland, Japan, and Alaska.

The best month to visualize the constellation Pavo is August, which is visible during the summer in the northern hemisphere. While in the southern hemisphere, it is visible during winter.

The constellation Pavo is medium-sized and has first-magnitude stars, so it is relatively easy to find using its brighter star, Peacock.

The easiest way to locate the constellation Pavo is by locating Peacock. This is the brightest in the constellation Pavo and borders the constellation Indus. Once we find Peacock, we draw a line towards the south celestial pole, and we will see the rest of the constellation.

The constellations bordering Pavo are Octans, Apus, Ara, Telescopium, and Indus.

Pavo also belongs to the family of constellations of Johann Bayer; these include Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Phoenix, Tucana, and Volans.

The constellation Pavo officially contains 87 stars, of which 11 form the main figure of the constellation, these are Peacock, Beta Pavonis, Delta Pavonis, Eta Pavonis, Epsilon Pavonis, Lambda Pavonis, Zeta Pavonis, Gamma Pavonis, Pi Pavonis, Kappa Pavonis and Xi Pavonis.

With an apparent magnitude of +1.91, it is the brightest in the constellation Of Pavo; it is located 183 light-years from the Solar System.

It is a blue subgiant star of spectral type B2IV with a surface temperature of 18,700 K. Visually 450 times more luminous than the Sun. Its luminosity reaches 2100 times the solar luminosity. It has a radius 4.4 times greater than the solar radius and a mass between 5 and 6 times that of the Sun.

It is the second brightest in the constellation of Pavo, with an apparent magnitude of +3.43. It is located 137 light-years from the Solar System.

It is a giant star of spectral type A7III,1 Beta Pavonis has a surface temperature of 8200 K. 58 times more luminous than the Sun. Its radius is 3.8 larger than the solar radius.

Pavo is also home to various deep sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies.

In the case of Pavo has a great variety of star clusters and galaxies. Some of the most notable of them are:

It is the fourth brightest globular cluster in the sky, after Omega Centauri, 47 Tucanae, and Messier 22. It is best seen from June to October in the Southern Hemisphere and is the most notable deep-sky object in the constellation Pavo.

The cluster is located about 13,000 light-years away and is one of the closest globular clusters to Earth. It is also located 17,000 light-years from the galactic center.

It is an intermediate spiral galaxy that lies only 25 million light-years apart in the constellation of Pavo in the southern hemisphere.

Of apparent magnitude 9.14, it is one of the most manageable deep-sky objects to observe and is also considered one of the most similar to the Milky Way of our immediate environment.

Two major meteor showers are within the constellation's boundaries called Delta Pavonids and August Pavonids.

The more notable of the two is the Delta Pavonids. It occurs from March 21 to April 8 and generally peaks around April 5 and 6. Delta Pavonids are thought to be associated with comet Grigg-Mellish.

• Pavo is one of the constellations located in the southern celestial hemisphere. Its name comes from Latin and represents the animal "Peacock."
• Pavo is one of the 88 modern constellations, so its name is not derived from a myth, history, or ancient legend like the most famous constellations.
• Pavo constellation is located between 30° N and 90° S. The best month to observe the constellation is August.
• The easiest way to locate the constellation Pavo is by locating Peacock. This is the brightest in the constellation Pavo and borders the constellation Indus. Once we find Peacock, we draw a line towards the south celestial pole, and we will see the rest of the constellation.
• The brightest star in the constellation Pavo is Alpha Muscae (α Mus/HD 109668/HR 4798), with an apparent magnitude of +2.69.
• The constellation Pavo's most notable deep sky body is the cumulus NGC 6752.
• The most notable meteor shower in the constellation Pavo is Delta Pavonids.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/pavo-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.or g/constellations/constellation-pavo.html
3. https://theplanets.org/constellations/pavo-constellation/
4. https://www.universeguide.com/constellation/pavo