The Constellation Crater
Crater is a faint constellation in the southern sky which appears highest in the evening sky in the months around April.
It contains only one star brighter than fourth magnitude, and does not contain any bright deep sky objects since it lies well away from the plane of the Milky Way.
It can be found next to the more prominent constellation Corvus, the crow. Mythologically, the two constellations form part of the same tale.
The crow represented in Corvus is identified as a bird sent by Apollo with a cup (Crater) 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, Crater, 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 |
| δ-Crt (mag 3.6) | NGC 3962 (mag 10.7) | ||
| Alkes (mag 4.1) | NGC 3887 (mag 10.9) | ||
| γ-Crt (mag 4.1) | NGC 3981 (mag 11.0) | ||
| β-Crt (mag 4.5) | NGC 3511 (mag 11.0) | ||
| θ-Crt (mag 4.7) | NGC 3892 (mag 11.2) | ||
| ζ-Crt (mag 4.7) | NGC 3672 (mag 11.3) | ||
| ε-Crt (mag 4.8) | NGC 3513 (mag 11.7) | ||
| λ-Crt (mag 5.1) | NGC 3955 (mag 11.8) | ||
| η-Crt (mag 5.2) | IC 2627 (mag 12.0) | ||
| ι-Crt (mag 5.5) | NGC 3732 (mag 12.4) | ||
| HIP 54029 (mag 5.5) | NGC 3636 (mag 12.4) | ||
| HIP 53316 (mag 5.7) | NGC 3956 (mag 12.5) | ||
| HIP 56078 (mag 5.8) | NGC 3771 (mag 12.6) | ||
| HIP 53778 (mag 5.9) | NGC 3637 (mag 12.6) | ||
| HIP 53723 (mag 5.9) | NGC 3905 (mag 12.8) | ||
| κ-Crt (mag 5.9) | NGC 3957 (mag 12.9) | ||
| HIP 56318 (mag 5.9) | NGC 3854 (mag 13.0) | ||
| HIP 56364 (mag 6.1) | NGC 3497 (mag 13.0) | ||
| HIP 54214 (mag 6.1) | NGC 3544 (mag 13.1) | ||
| ψ-Crt (mag 6.1) | NGC 3597 (mag 13.1) | ||
| SV Crt (mag 6.1) | NGC 3663 (mag 13.2) | ||
| HIP 57732 (mag 6.1) | NGC 3763 (mag 13.2) | ||
| HIP 56901 (mag 6.2) | NGC 3456 (mag 13.3) | ||
| HIP 56899 (mag 6.2) | NGC 3508 (mag 13.4) | ||
| HIP 57079 (mag 6.2) | NGC 3715 (mag 13.4) | ||
| HIP 57587 (mag 6.2) | IC 2623 (mag 13.5) | ||
| HIP 56245 (mag 6.2) | NGC 3836 (mag 13.7) | ||
| HIP 57819 (mag 6.3) | NGC 3942 (mag 13.8) | ||
| HIP 53259 (mag 6.3) | NGC 3514 (mag 13.8) | ||
| HIP 53849 (mag 6.3) | NGC 3481 (mag 13.8) |
