Apus, mythology, history and telescopical observations

Apus, it's a small and insignificant constellation located in a zone of the sky of 60º of amplitude. The galactic equator or Milky Way is to the south of and to the south of the celestial equator. It is visible a circumpolar constellation in the South hemisphere and the North hemisphere next to the equator. It limits the south with Octans where one is in celestial South Pole, to the north with Circinus and Triangulum Australe and Ara, to the west with Musca and Chamaleon and to the east with Pavus. To date, I have not been able to locate it to be in very austral latitudes from the island of Majorca where alive, although I do not discard to someday make a trip to the seas of the south, and to lose to me in an island of the desert Pacific to be able to contemplate and to locate the constellations that I have left to discover.

Constelación de Apus

Main Stars

Alfa, a; with a magnitude of 3,8 it's colour of orange one or type K, it's situated to 411 light-years so far and it's 50 times more luminosity that our Sun.

Beta, b; with a magnitude of 4,2, it's situated to 158 light-years, its colour is orange one or K0 and it's 40 times more luminosity that the Sun.

Gamma, g; orange star of K spectrum, whose magnitude is 3.8 that it's 160 light-years of the Earth.

Delta, d; red star with M spectrum it's 720 light-years from us. It's a double star

estrella rojiza de espectro M que se halla a 720 años luz. It's a double star as even optician and noneven physicist system, whose main star is 4.7 magnitude and orange ones and second one is 5.2, separated 100" of arc, but this one is located more near us to main star, 665 light-years.

Other objets

q Apuvis; variable star of type Mira or red star, with it's oscillated betwen 6,4 & 8,5 magnitudes in a period of 119 days.

NGC 6101: It's a globular cluster of magnitude 9,1. It's situated to 50.000 light-years and it has a 14º arc of angular width.

To date observations by telescope have not been made since it is located in the South hemisphere, next to the celestial and invisible South Pole from where I write these lines to you, Majorca, Spain, although I do not discard to someday make a trip to the seas of the south, and to lose to me in an island of the Pacific to be able to contemplate and to locate the constellations that still I have left to discover.

Next in the following window you can select the constellation that you want to locate, to observe and to discover following with the thematic one of the Web of Masm.

	Apus or Bird of the paradise, exotic name that Mr. Bayer designated in its book of Uranometría to bordering a poor zone in stars with the South Pole.