Grus Constellation | Constellations In The Southern Hemisphere
GRUS CONSTELLATION – In this topic, we are going to know and learn about the southern constellation Grus, the Crane.
It is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is the Latin term for ‘the crane’.
Grus was created by Dutch astronomer Petrus Plancius from the observations of the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in the late 16th century.
In the early 17th century, it shortly went by the name Phoenicopterus, which means “the flamingo” in Latin.
Its brightest star is called Alnair, which means “the bright one from the fish’s tail” in Arabic. The proper name of Gamma Gruis, Al Dhanab, also means “the tail” in Arabic.
Grus houses deep sky objects such as the barred spiral galaxy NGC 7424, the face-on, type 1.5 Seyfert galaxy NGC 7213, IC 1459, NGC 7418, NGC 7421, the interacting galaxies group Grus Quartet, the Spare Tyre Nebula, IC 5264, NGC 7462, and IC 5201, among others.
It is the 45th largest constellation and occupies an area of about 366 square degrees. It lies in SQ4, the fourth quadrant of the southern hemisphere.
Grus belongs to the Johann Bayer family, along with Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Phoenix, Tucana and Volans.
Stars
Among the stars include:
- Aldhanab | Gamma Gruis
- Alnair | Alpha Gruis
- δ Gru | Delta Gruis
- Gliese 832
- Gruid | Beta Gruis
- Itonda
- τ1 Gruis | Tau-1 Gruis
- Tiaki
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