The Constellation Corvus
Corvus is a small constellation in the southern sky, nestling to the south of Virgo. Visually, it appears as a trapezoid of second and third magnitude stars not far from Spica, which appears highest in the evening sky in the months around March.
Most of the objects of interest in Corvus are faint. It is home to the merging galaxies NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, collectively known as Arp 244 or the Antennae galaxies. Near the center of the trapezoid lies the tenth-magnitude planetary nebula NGC 4361, sometimes known as the cosmic water sprinkler.
The name ‘Corvus’ is Latin for ‘crow’, the sacred bird of Apollo. The crow is often identified as the bird sent by Apollo with a cup to search for water. The bird became distracted by a fig tree, and delayed returning to Apollo.
The bird returned and lied that a water snake had preventing it from filling the cup, and returned with the snake in its talons. Apollo saw through the ruse, and cast all three into the sky as Corvus (the crow), Crater (the cup) and Hydra (the water snake).
Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.
| Stars | Open Clusters | Globular Clusters | Galaxies |
| Gienah (mag 2.6) | NGC 4038 (mag 11.3) | ||
| β-Crv (mag 2.7) | NGC 4802 (mag 11.3) | ||
| Algorab (mag 3.0) | NGC 4033 (mag 11.8) | ||
| ε-Crv (mag 3.0) | NGC 4050 (mag 11.8) | ||
| Alchiba (mag 4.0) | NGC 4024 (mag 11.8) | ||
| η-Crv (mag 4.3) | NGC 4462 (mag 11.8) | ||
| HIP 60221 (mag 5.1) | NGC 4094 (mag 12.0) | ||
| ζ-Crv (mag 5.2) | NGC 4727 (mag 12.2) | ||
| 31-Crt (mag 5.3) | NGC 4756 (mag 12.2) | ||
| 3-Crv (mag 5.4) | NGC 4763 (mag 12.5) | ||
| HIP 61296 (mag 5.6) | NGC 4782 (mag 12.8) | ||
| HIP 61015 (mag 5.6) | NGC 4783 (mag 12.8) | ||
| 6-Crv (mag 5.7) | NGC 4039 (mag 13.0) | ||
| HIP 61212 (mag 5.7) | NGC 4794 (mag 13.0) | ||
| HIP 59728 (mag 5.8) | NGC 4177 (mag 13.3) | ||
| TYC5534-1488-2 (mag 5.8) | IC 829 (mag 13.5) | ||
| HIP 61910 (mag 5.9) | NGC 4263 (mag 13.6) | ||
| HIP 60157 (mag 6.0) | NGC 4722 (mag 13.7) | ||
| HD110318 (mag 6.0) | NGC 4724 (mag 13.7) | ||
| HIP 61688 (mag 6.0) | NGC 4748 (mag 14.0) | ||
| HIP 61951 (mag 6.0) | IC 786 (mag 14.0) | ||
| HIP 59895 (mag 6.0) | IC 3827 (mag 14.1) | ||
| HIP 63109 (mag 6.2) | NGC 4114 (mag 14.1) | ||
| TU Crv (mag 6.2) | IC 3834 (mag 14.2) | ||
| HIP 61270 (mag 6.3) | IC 3831 (mag 14.2) | ||
| HIP 58574 (mag 6.3) | NGC 4524 (mag 14.2) | ||
| HIP 60809 (mag 6.3) | NGC 4714 (mag 14.2) | ||
| HIP 60994 (mag 6.4) | NGC 4188 (mag 14.3) | ||
| HIP 59801 (mag 6.8) | NGC 4035 (mag 14.5) | ||
| R-Crv (mag 11.2) | IC 3799 (mag 14.5) |
