Piscis Austrinus

Authors: Susanne M Hoffmann, Youla Azkarrula, Doris Vickers, IanRidpath

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star chart of PsA (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg)

One of the 88 IAU constellations with a very old history: The original Greek name was The Great Fish was given to an earlier Babylonian constellation The Fish. When the constellation Pisces (two fish) was invented in Hellenistic times (possibly in Egypt) as a super-constellation from parts of neighbouring Babylonian originals (see Anunītu, Nunu, KU₆, ...), the original constellation of The Fish needed to be specified. To distinguish the two fish of Pisces from the traditional The Fish south of Aquarius, it was named Piscis Austrinus (or Notius as a Latinized Greek term for "south").

Etymology and History

Origin of Constellation

In Greek, this constellation is called the Great Fish or simply Fish. This section is missing on the Farnese Atlas globe because it is covered by the shoulder of the Titan.

In the Almagest, it is described as lying on its back, and the Carolingian Leiden Aratea (+9th century) also shows the figure in this position. Eratosthenes reports that this fish snaps at water, specifically the water that Aquarius pours out.

The Arabs introduce a new aspect here, which is mixed with the Greek version in as-Sufi (10th century): the bright star at the mouth of the fish (now called Fomalhaut) apparently had the name ‘Southern Frog’ in Arabic literature – in contrast to the ‘Northern Frog’, Diphda in Ketos (Cetus). In many cases, Arab constellation culture has anchored two narratives in the star catalogue: on the one hand, the star names from Ptolemy's catalogue are translated into Arabic, but on the other hand, in the case of Arabic proper names for stars, these are also preserved in the written tradition. This makes it possible to reconstruct some of the original Arabic star (constellation) names.

Greco-Roman

Aratus

Below Capricorn and exposed to the winds of the south hovers the Fish, turned to face the Monster, distinct from the former two: they call it the Southern Fish. (Kidd 1997)

Hipparchus

Rising (Lib III Cap I §7)

The Rising of ...

	east		south
	lam1	lam2	lam1	lam2
	Aqr 16 1/2	Psc 20 1/2	Sgr 4	Sgr 1/2
star	the northern one of those in the tail (iota)	the one at the front of mouth (alf)
duration	1 2/5 hours = 84 min = 21 degree

Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10)

	west		south
	lam1	lam2	lam1	lam2
star
duration	2 2/3 hours = 160 min = 40°

Stars Mentioned

	Greek	German	English	ident.	src		lam_culm
					Lib II Cap V §10	rising, east, first
					Lib II Cap V §10	rising, east, last
					Lib II Cap VI §2	setting CrB, south, last	Psc 13.5
					Lib II Cap VI §13	setting Aql, south, first	Ari 2
					Lib III Cap I §9	rising Ori, south, last	Psc 13

Hyginus, Astronomica

This is the Fish that is called Southern. He seems to take water in his mouth from the sign of Aquarius. Once, when Isis was in labor, he is thought to have saved her, and as a reward for this kindness she placed the fish and its young, about whom we have spoken before, among the stars. As a result the Syrians generally do not eat fish, and worship their gilded likenesses as household gods. Ctesias, too, writes about this. (Mary Ward 1960)

Almagest

id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
	Ἰχθύος νοτίου ἀστερισμός	Constellation of the Southern Fish
1	ὁ ἐν τῷ στόματι ὁ αὐτὸς τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ Ὕδατος	The star in the mouth, which is the same as the beginning ofthe water	alf PsA
2	τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς φοτίου τῆς κεφαλῆς περιφερεύας γ’ ὁ ἠγούμενος	Thc most advanced of thc 3 stars on the southcrn rim of the head	bet PsA
3	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν	The middlc onc	gam PsA
4	ὁ ἑπόμενος τῶν τριῶν	The rearmost of the three	del PsA
5	ὁ πρὸς τῷ βράγχω	The star hy thc gills	eps PsA
6	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς νωτιαίας νοτίου ἀκάνθης	The star on the southcrnmost spine on the back	mu PsA
7	τῶν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ β ὁ ἑπόμενος	The rearmost of the 2 stars in the belly	zet PsA
8	ὁ προηγούμενος αὐτῶν	The more advanced of them	lam PsA
9	τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς βορείου ἀκάνθης ἢ’ ὁ ἐπόμενος	The rearmost af the 3 stars on the northern spine	eta PsA
10	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν	The middle one	tet PsA
11	ὁ προηγούμενος τῶν τριῶν.	The most advanced of the three	iot PsA
12	ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς οὐρᾶς	The star on the tip of the tail	gam Gru
	ἀστέρες ἴα, ὧν δ’ μεγέθους θ, ε β	{11 stars, 9 of the fourth magnitude, 2 of the fifth}
	Οἱ περὶ τὸν νότιον Ἰχθὺν ἀμόρφωτοι.
	τῶν προηγουμένων λαμπρῶν φ τοῦ Ἰχθύος ὁ ἠγούμενος	The most advanced ofthe 3 bright stars in advance ofPiscis [Austrinus]	eta Mic
	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶ	The middle one	tet1 Mic
	ὁ ἐπόμευος τῶν τριῶη	The rearmost of the three	xi Gru
	ὁ τούτου προηγούμενος ἀμαυρός	The faint star in advance of this	tet2 Mic
	τῶν λοιπῶν πρὸς ἄρκτους β’ ὁ νοτιώτερος	The southernmost of the remaining 2 stars to the north	gam Mic
	ὁ βορειότερος αὐτῶν	The northernmost of them	alf Mic
all	ἀστέρες ξ, ὥν γ’ μεγέθους γ, δ’ β, εα.

Convex Hull for the stars inside Notios Ichthys (CC BY Youla Azkarrula).

Stars within the Constellation Area

id	Label	IAU design.	description	Vmag
1	Fomalhaut	HIP 113368	Constellation lines (Vertex)	1.16
2	Aldhanab	HIP 108085	Constellation lines (Vertex)	3.01
3	ϵ Piscis Austrini	HIP 111954	Constellation lines (Vertex)	4.177
4	δ Piscis Austrini	HIP 113246	Constellation lines (Vertex)	4.208
5	β Piscis Austrini	HIP 111188	Constellation lines	4.29
6	ι Piscis Austrini	HIP 107380	Constellation lines (Vertex)	4.34
7	μ Piscis Austrini	HIP 109285	Constellation lines	4.5
8	γ Piscis Austrini	HIP 112948	Constellation lines (Vertex)	4.51
9	τ Piscis Austrini	HIP 109422	Inside the hull	4.92
10	υ Piscis Austrini	HIP 109289	Inside the hull	4.99
11	θ Piscis Austrini	HIP 107608	Constellation lines (Vertex)	5.017
12	-	HIP 109404	Inside the hull	5.371
13	λ Piscis Austrini	HIP 109789	Constellation lines	5.43
14	VZ PsA	HIP 111809	Inside the hull	5.66
15	* eta PsA A	HIP 108661	Constellation lines (Vertex)	5.72
16	-	HIP 111600	Inside the hull	5.808
17	-	HIP 111934	Constellation lines	5.89
18	-	HIP 111045	Inside the hull	5.95
19	21 PsA	HIP 112862	Inside the hull	5.987
20	-	HIP 113234	Inside the hull	6.067
21	19 PsA	HIP 112102	Inside the hull	6.168
22	-	HIP 111879	Inside the hull	6.314
23	-	HIP 112746	Inside the hull	6.332
24	-	HIP 109306	Inside the hull	6.386
25	-	HIP 108259	Inside the hull	6.414
26	ζ Piscis Austrini	HIP 111138	Constellation lines (Vertex)	6.43
27	-	HIP 109412	Inside the hull	6.436
28	-	HIP 111801	Inside the hull	6.457
29	13 PsA	HIP 108952	Inside the hull	6.46
30	TW PsA	HIP 113283	Inside the hull	6.48
31	-	HIP 109561	Constellation lines	6.73

Mythology/ Religion

Greek

Eratosthenes reports that this fish lived in a lake near Bambyke, a city in Syria northeast of Aleppo. When the goddess Derketo fell into this lake one night, she was saved by this fish.

Derketo is a Syrian goddess who is depicted as a kind of mermaid: a female upper body with a fish tail. She was probably a Ugaritic goddess of the sky and/or sea (Syria, 3rd millennium BCE) and is equated by Hesiod (modern-day Turkey, around 700 BCE) with Aphrodite Urania, a heavenly goddess of love. Depictions on coins from a later period (1st century BCE) suggest that she also functioned as a goddess of fertility. Derketo thus had similar roles to the Babylonian Ishtar, and we will encounter this figure again in the constellation Andromeda.

It is not known which of the variants of this goddess of love Eratosthenes' source refers to. In any case, fish are sacred animals in this region of Syria and were therefore placed among the stars. This is probably how the constellation Pisces came into being, which he describes in the same context as the Great Fish. According to Eratosthenes, the small fish are descendants of the Great Fish.

Weblinks

• Ridpath, Ian, “Star Tales: online edition”.

References

• References (general)
• References (Babylonian)
• References (ancient Greco-Roman)
• References (medieval)