Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email
Answers.com

Corvus

 
Dictionary: Cor·vus   (kôr'vəs) pronunciation

n.
A constellation in the Southern Hemisphere near Crater and Virgo. Also called Crow.

[Latin corvus, raven.]


Search unanswered questions...
Enter a question here...
Search: All sources Community Q&A Reference topics

A genus of large, perching birds of the family Corvidae which includes jays, magpies, crows. They are omnivorous and may act as physical carriers of contagious disease because they will on occasion eat carrion.

WordNet:

Corvus

Top
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: a small quadrilateral constellation in the southern hemisphere near Virgo
  Synonym: Crow

Meaning #2: type genus of the Corvidae: crows and ravens
  Synonym: genus Corvus


Wikipedia:

Corvus(constellation)

Top
Corvus
Corvus
List of stars in Corvus
Abbreviation Crv
Genitive Corvi
Pronunciation /ˈkɔrvəs/, genitive /ˈkɔrvaɪ/
Symbolism the Crow/Raven
Right ascension 12 h
Declination −20°
Family Hercules
Quadrant SQ3
Area 184 sq. deg. (70th)
Main stars 4
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars
10
Stars with
known planets
1
Stars brighter than 3m 3
Stars within 10 pc (32.6 ly) 1
Brightest star γ Crv (Gienah) (2.59m)
Nearest star Ross 695
(28.99 ly, 8.89 pc)
Messier objects 0
Meteor showers Corvids (June 26)
Bordering
constellations
Virgo
Crater
Hydra
Visible at latitudes between +60° and −90°.
Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of May.

Corvus is a small constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for raven or crow. It includes only 11 stars visible to the naked eye (brighter than magnitude 5.5). It was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, who only counted 7 stars,[1] and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations.

Contents

Notable features

Stars

δ, γ, ε, and β form an asterism known as 'the sail'.[citation needed] γ and δ serve as pointers toward Spica. The first five stars in Corvus correspond to the Hastā nakshatra, a lunar zodiacal constellation in Indian astronomy.

31 Crateris (which was originally numbered in Crater) is a 5.2 magnitude star which was once mistaken for a moon of Mercury.

Notable deep sky objects

Corvus contains no Messier objects.

The Antennae peculiar galaxy consists of the colliding NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, and appears to have a heart shape as seen from Earth. The name originates from the huge tidal tails that come off the ends of the two galaxies.

The center of Corvus is home to a planetary nebula NGC 4361. The nebula itself resembles a small elliptical galaxy, but the magnitude 13 center star gives away its true nature.

Mythology

See the story at constellations Crater and Hydra.

Once the crow had beautiful silver or snowy white feathers and could speak to humans, but that all changed. As Apollo's sacred bird, the crow (or Raven) was told to watch over his pregnant love, Coronis. Coronis slowly lost interest in Apollo and was attracted to a mere mortal. The crow, who was secretly spying on her, reported her unfaithfulness to Apollo. In a rage of anger he unfairly turned the loyal raven's feathers black and took away its ability to speak. Coronis was killed by Apollo's twin sister Artemis. The child of Coronis and Apollo was rescued and raised. He then became known as Asclepius, the god of medicine and healing.

Another well known story is that when Apollo sent his raven to get some water in the god's cup (Crater), the raven waited for some figs to ripen and had a feast on them. He came back very late with a water snake (Hydra) and the water in the cup (Crater) he was sent for. The foolish raven blamed his tardiness on the water snake. Apollo was not tricked. He put the raven in the sky along with the water snake and the cup. Until this day, the snake keeps water from the eternally thirsty raven, yet the raven always sees the water, just out of reach.

Citations

  1. ^ This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.

References

External links

Coordinates: Sky map 12h 00m 00s, −20° 00′ 00″


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Veterinary Dictionary. Saunders Comprehensive Veterinary Dictionary 3rd Edition. Copyright © 2007 by D.C. Blood, V.P. Studdert and C.C. Gay, Elsevier. All rights reserved.  Read more
WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Corvus (constellation)" Read more