Southern fish
Southern Pisces constellation |
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Latin name | Piscis Austrinus |
Latin genitive | Piscis Austrini |
Abbreviation | PsA |
Right ascension | 21 h 27 m 14 s to 23 h 06 m 55 s |
declination | −36 ° 27 ′ 33 ″ to −24 ° 49 ′ 30 ″ |
surface | 245.375 deg² rank 60 |
Completely visible | 53.5 ° N to 90 ° S |
Observation time for Central Europe | late summer |
Number of stars brighter than 3 mag | 1 |
Brightest star (size) | Fomal skin (1.16) |
Meteor streams | |
Neighboring constellations ( clockwise from north ) |
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swell | IAU , |
From the Uranometria by Johann Bayer , there called Piscis Notius . |
The southern fish ( Latin Piscis Austrinus , historically also Piscis Notius ) is a constellation south of the celestial equator .
description
The southern fish is a little prominent constellation south of Aquarius . Only the brightest star Fomalhaut is strikingly bright at 1.16 m . The other stars are not brighter than the 4th magnitude .
Due to its location, the constellation is low on the horizon when viewed from Germany.
history
The southern fish is one of the 48 constellations of ancient Greek astronomy , which were already described by Ptolemy .
Stars
star | Names | size |
---|---|---|
α PsA | Fomal skin | 1.16 m |
δ PsA | Aboras | 4.2 m |
ε PsA | 4.2 m | |
β PsA | 4.3 m | |
γ PsA | 4.4 m | |
η PsA | 5.4 m |
Fomalhaut (α Piscis Austrini) is one of the Sun's closest neighbors at a distance of 25 light years . Its name is of Arabic origin and means something like "mouth of the fish". Images from the Hubble Space Telescope show that the star is surrounded by a disk of dust 40 billion kilometers in diameter. Fomalhaut presumably owns a larger planet 7 to 10 billion kilometers away (that's about 50 to 70 times the distance between the earth and the sun).
Double stars
object | Sizes | distance |
---|---|---|
β PsA | 4.3 m / 7.8 m | 30.3 " |
η PsA | 5.8 m / 6.8 m | 1.8 " |
β PsA is a binary star system 150 light years away. The two components belong to the spectral classes A0 and G2. Due to their relatively wide angular distance, they can be resolved into single stars with a small telescope .
The system η PsA is 500 light years away. It consists of two bright stars of the spectral classes B7 and A2. They can be separated with a medium telescope.
Deep sky objects
NGC | other | size | Type | Surname |
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7314 | 10.8 m | Galaxy |