- AL NAIR (Alpha Gruis). Directly south of Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish, is the modern constellation Grus, the Crane. Unlike the bright ancient constellations, the “moderns” were invented between around 1600 and 1800 either to name the figures of the deep southern sky that could not be seen from northern classical lands or to fill in the blanks among the brighter northern groups.
