Corvus (constellation)

Lore & Background

In the Babylonian star catalogues dating from at least 1100 BCE, what later became known as Corvus was called the Raven (MUL.UGA.MUSHEN). As with more familiar Classical astronomy, it was placed sitting on the tail of the Serpent (Greek Hydra). The Babylonian constellation was sacred to Adad, the god of rain and storm; in the second Millennium BCE it would have risen just before the autumnal rainy season. John H. Rogers observed that Hydra signified Ningishzida, the god of the underworld in the Babylonian compendium MUL.APIN. He proposed that Corvus and Crater (along with Hydra) were death symbols and marked the gate to the underworld. These two constellations, along with the eagle Aquila and the fish Piscis Austrinus, were introduced to the Greeks around 500 BCE; they marked the winter and summer solstices respectively. Furthermore, Hydra had been a landmark as it had straddled the celestial equator in antiquity. Corvus and Crater also featured in the iconography of Mithraism, which is thought to have been of middle-eastern origin before spreading into Ancient Greece and Rome. Corvus is associated with the myth of Apollo and his lover Coronis the Lapith. Coronis had been unfaithful to Apollo; when he learned this information from a pure white crow (or raven in some versions, called Lycius), he turned its feathers black in a fit of rage. Another legend associated with Corvus is that a crow stopped on his way to fetch water for Apollo, to eat figs. Instead of telling the truth to Apollo, he lied and said that a snake, Hydra, kept him from the water, while holding a snake in his talons as proof. Apollo, realizing this was a lie, flung the crow (Corvus), cup (Crater), and snake (Hydra) into the sky. He further punished the wayward bird by ensuring it would forever be thirsty, both in real life and in the heavens, where the Cup is just out of reach.

Reader's Guide

Corvus is notable for its distinctive quadrilateral asterism formed by its four brightest stars, which is easy to distinguish in a dim area of the sky. The constellation's brightest star, Gamma Corvi (Gienah), is an aging blue giant around four times as massive as the Sun. The young star Eta Corvi has been found to have two debris disks. Three star systems have exoplanets, and a fourth planetary system is unconfirmed. TV Corvi is a dwarf nova—a white dwarf and brown dwarf in very close orbit.

In non-Western astronomy, the stars of Corvus are located within the Vermilion Bird of the South in Chinese astronomy, where the four main stars depict a chariot, Zhen, the 28th and final lunar mansion. In Indian astronomy, the five main stars represent a hand or fist corresponding to the Hasta, the 13th nakshatra. Corvus was recognized as a constellation by several Polynesian cultures and used as a guide for ocean navigation. To Torres Strait Islanders, Corvus was the right hand of the huge constellation Tagai. The Bororo people of central Brazil regarded the constellation as a land tortoise, while the Tucano people of the northwestern Amazon region saw it as an egret. To the Tupi people of São Luís Island in Brazil, Corvus might have been seen as a grill or barbecue.

Covering 184 square degrees, Corvus ranks 70th of the 88 constellations in area. Its official boundaries, set by Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of six segments. Its position in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible to observers south of 65°N.

Did You Know?

• Gamma Corvi (Gienah) is the brightest star in Corvus, with an apparent magnitude of 2.59.
• The four brightest stars—Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, and Beta Corvi—form a distinctive quadrilateral or cross-shape.
• In Babylonian star catalogues from at least 1100 BCE, Corvus was called the Raven (MUL.UGA.MUSHEN).