- Star Tales - Piscis Austrinus (ianridpath.com)
Eratosthenes called this the Great Fish and said that it was the parent of the two smaller fish of the zodiacal constellation Pisces. Like Pisces, its mythology has a Middle Eastern setting that reveals its Babylonian origin.
- How to find and observe the Double Cluster (TOTS#5) (eyesonthesky.com)
NGC 869 and NGC 884 are two open cluster within our own Milky Way galaxy that are very close to each other, creating a “dual” cluster for telescope observers. The two clusters are each about 7,500 light years from Earth, so the photons from it reaching your eye in a telescope left that cluster about the time copper was being used in the Middle East. The estimated age is about 12.8 million years, making it one of the younger star clusters in our galaxy. Here is a detailed guide on how to locate the Double Cluster.
- Piscis Austrinus (Wikipedia)
Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for “the southern fish”, in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fish. Before the 20th century, it was also known as Piscis Notius. Piscis Austrinus was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. The stars of the modern constellation Grus once formed the “tail” of Piscis Austrinus. In 1597 (or 1598), Petrus Plancius carved out a separate constellation and named it after the crane.
