Piscis Austrinus Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In Greek mythology, Piscis Austrinus's constellation is known as "the Grand Fish," and is depicted swallowing the water poured by Aquarius, the water-bearing constellation.

The two fish of the constellation Piscis Austrinus are said to be the children of the Great Fish. In Egyptian mythology, this fish saved the life of the Egyptian goddess Isis, so she placed this fish and its descendants in the heavens as constellations of stars.

C., the Greek historian Ctesias wrote that the fish was said to live in a lake near Bambyce in Siria and saved Derceto, daughter of Aphrodite. Because of this, many Syrians did not eat it.

Later in the fifth century, the astronomer Ptolemy would place the constellation Piscis Austrinus as one of the 48 official constellations of the night sky. Still, in its representation, the stars of the current constellation Grus formed the "tail" of Piscis Austrinus.

Later the cartographer Petrus Planicius would take the stars that formed the tail of Piscis Austrinus to form the modern constellation that we know today as Grus.

In 1922 the International Astronomical Association added the constellation Piscis Austrinus to the 88 official night sky constellations. Since then, it has not undergone significant modifications in its limits.

Currently, Piscis Austrinus occupies only 245 square degrees of the sky. This places it 60th in size among the 88 constellations in the night sky.

Piscis Austrinus resides in the fourth quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ4) between latitudes 55° N and 90° S, which means that we can see the constellation in the night sky from all countries of the southern hemisphere of the earth, and some countries of the northern hemisphere.

Piscis Austrinus's constellation is visible in America, Europe, Africa, Australia, Japan, and Antarctica.

Piscis Austrinus is not visible in regions above 55° N, such as northern Canada, Norway, Sweden, or Finland, nor in Russia, Greenland, and Alaska.

Piscis Austrinus is located in the southern hemisphere. Still, the best month to observe it is in October.

In the northern hemisphere, the Piscis Austrinus is visible during autumn, while in the southern hemisphere, the best date to see it is during spring.

Piscis Austrinus's constellation is prominent and contains stars of the first magnitude, so it is not so difficult to find.

The easiest way to locate the constellation Piscis Austrinus is to locate its brightest star, Fomalhaut, located on the border with the constellation Sculptor.

Another way is by drawing an imaginary straight line from the constellation Grus towards the constellation Aquarius; the constellation Piscis Austrinus is located right in the middle of the two.

The constellations bordering Piscis Austrinus are Capricornus, Microscopium, Grus, Sculptor, and Aquarius.

In addition, Piscis Austrinus belongs to the Heavenly Waters family of constellations; these include Carina, Columba, Delphinus, Equuleus, Eridanus, Puppis, Pyxis, and Vela.

The constellation Piscis Austrinus officially contains 47 stars, of which 10 form the main figure of the constellation, these are Fomalhaut, Epsilon Piscis Austrini, Delta Piscis Austrini, Beta Piscis Austrini, Iota Piscis Austrini, Gamma Piscis Austrini, Mu Piscis Austrini, Tau Piscis Austrini, Upsilon Piscis Austrini and Theta Piscis Austrini.

With an apparent magnitude of +1.16, it is the brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus and one of the closest as it is 25 light-years from Earth.

Fomalhaut is a white main-sequence star of spectral type A4V that lies approximately 25 light-years from Earth. It is thought to be a young star, only about 200 million years old. Its surface temperature is 8750 K.

It is the second brightest star in the constellation, with an apparent magnitude of +4.18. It is 487 light-years from the Solar System.

Epsilon Piscis Austrini is a bluish-white star of spectral type B8Ve. Its luminosity is 661 times higher than the solar luminosity, and it has a radius 3.2 times larger than that of the Sun. The rapid rotation of the star with a warm equatorial disk.

Piscis Austrinus is also home to a couple of deep-sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (body of interstellar clouds), or galaxies.

In the case of Piscis Austrinus, because it is a small constellation that only has galaxies, some of the most notable of them are:

It is a spiral galaxy located in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus with a magnitude of +11.6. It has bright colors that tend to be yellow and is 54 million light-years from the Milky Way.

This is the most notable deep sky object in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. The nucleus of this galaxy is estimated to be a supermassive black hole.

In the constellation Piscis Austrinus this is a spiral galaxy approximately 66 million light-years away from Earth. In 2009, a possible supernova was detected in the galaxy and named SN 2009ip.

• Piscis Austrinus is a constellation located primarily in the southern hemisphere. Its name comes from Latin and means "the fish of the south."
• This is one of the 48 constellations named in the Almagest, a catalog of stars written by the astronomer Ptolemy during the second century.
• The constellation Piscis Austrinus is located between 55° N and 90° S. The best month to observe the constellation is in October.
• The easiest way to locate the constellation Piscis Austrinus is to locate its brightest star, Fomalhaut, located on the border with the constellation Sculptor.
• The brightest star in the constellation Piscis Austrinus is Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini / α PsA / 24 Piscis Austrini), with an apparent magnitude of +1.16.
• The most notable deep sky body of the constellation Piscis Austrinus is Galaxy NGC 7314.

1. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/piscis-austrinus-constellation/
2. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation-piscis-austrinus.html
3. https://in-the-sky.org/data/constellation.php?id=68
4. https://www.britannica.com/place/Piscis-Austrinus