Profile / Characteristics
| English translation | Latin declination and pronunciations | Size/ °² | # stars (visible) |
| the Crow | Corvus – COR-vus Corvi – COR-vye | 184 | 28 |
Main Star (brightest one):
| Designation | HIP number | name in IAU-CSN | brightness |
| gamma Crv | HIP 59803 | Gienah | 2.58 mag (V) |
Our (modern) Explanation
Corvus is one of the 48 constellations catalogued by Ptolemy of Alexandria in the second century which is a direct takeover from the Babylonian uranography. Even there, it formed a super-constellation with Hydra sitting on the tip of the tail of the huge dragon-like creature that became the Greek watersnake.
Ancient Globes
Farnese Globe
Kugel Globe
Mainz Globe
Ancient Lore & Meaning
Aratus
[448?] Midway on its coiling form is set the Crater, and at the tip the figure of a Raven [Corvus] that seems to peck at the coil. [520?] the dim-lit Crater and the Crow
Reference:
English translation by Douglas Kidd (1997).
Aratus: Phaenomena, Cambridge Classical Texts and Commentaries, Series Number 34
Pseudo-Eratosthenes
References:
French translation by:
Jordi Pàmias i Massana and Arnaud Zucker (2013). Ératosthènes de Cyrène – Catastérismes, Les Belles Lettres, Paris
English version in:
Robin Hard (2015): Eratosthenes and Hyginus Constellation Myths with Aratus’s Phaenomena, Oxford World’s Classics
Early Modern Interpretation
Contemporary
As one of their first tasks in the 1920s, the newly founded International Astronomical Union (IAU) established constellation standards. The Belgian astronomer Eugène Delporte was assigned to the task to define borders of constellations parallel to lines of declination and right ascension. They were accepted by the General Assembly in 1928. The standardized names and abbreviations had already been accepted in 1922 and 1925.
