Corvus

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

star chart
Corvus star chart (IAU and Sky & Telescope magazine, Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg).
Κóραξ (Korax)
Asterism Info
Native
Κóραξ
RomanisationKorax
Translation
Raven
Position (2000)
Right ascension182.1034053 to 188.59681219999996
Declination-24.7288756 to -16.19600517
Area37.54 sq. deg.
Stars
Bright stars12
Bayer/Flamsteed
stars		8
Stars brighter than 3.00m4
Brightest starGienah (2.58m)
Taxonomy
category
of asterism		Almagest constellation
IAU-
constellations		Crv

One of the 88 IAU constellations. Since ancient times, it forms a super-constellation with Hydra and (later) Crater.

Etymology and History

Leo and Virgo above the MUŠ-Dragon, two claytablet drawings from the Seleucid era (roughly 2nd century BCE), CC BY SMH based upon the drawings by E. Weidner (1967) and Thureau-Dangin (1922).

Origin of Constellation

The constellation is first found as a standalone constellation in the Greek literature. However, in Babylonian uranography it had existed already for a millennium (at least) at that time.[1]

Babylonian

see

Constellation Hydra with Crater and Corvus on the Kugel Globe (1st century BCE), detail from drawing by SMH (Hoffmann 2025), Some Results on the Ancient Globes, Globe Studies – The Journal of the International Coronelli Society, 69, 4169.

Greco-Roman

Egyptian

In Ptolemaic times (1st century BCE), when Egypt was ruled by the Romans, new Egyptian temples were built: a Chnum temple in Esna and a Hathor temple Dendera (south and north of Thebes/ Luxor). They display a cultural mixture of Babylonian and Egyptian constellations.

Aratos

[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

(Kidd 1997)

Eratosthenes

see Hydra

Eratosthenes's star catalogue can be reconstructed from the list of stars he mentions in the last section of each of the constelllation descriptions. Hoffmann (2017)[2] made such a catalogue and used it for computational comparison with Hipparchus's, Ptolemy's and Babylonian data; it is based on the edition and translation by Pamias and Geus (2007)[3] and presented here in English translation.

erat.Cat.ID constStarID starName ident.Bayer ident.HIP certainty
682 1 the Raven on its tail [of the Water Serpent] has a dim star on its beak [facing west] alpha Crv 59199 2
683 2 the Raven[…] two on the wing eps Crv 59316 2
684 3 the Raven[…] two on the wing gam Crv 59803 2
685 4 the Raven[…] two on the tail delta Crv 60965 2
686 5 the Raven[…] two on the tail eta Crv 61174 2
687 6 the Raven[…] one on each tip of the foot beta Crv 61359 2
688 7 the Raven[…] one on each tip of the foot 6 Crv 60425 2
Hipparchus
Rising (Lib III Cap I §3)

The Rising of ...

east south
lam1 lam2 lam1 lam2
Vir 16 Vir 23 Gem 14 Gem 22
star the one at the hip (gam) the one in the feet (beta)
duration 3/5 hours = 36 min = 9 degree
Setting (Lib II Cap VI §10)
west south
lam1 lam2 lam1 lam2
missing in the text (only the first ten words of the paragrph preserved)
star
duration
Hipparchus's "lost" star Catalogue

The star catalogue of Hipparchus is not preserved. Yet, several scholars have reconstructed it in the past century: Vogt (1925)[4], Grasshoff (1990)[5], Hoffmann (2017)[6] and Glover (2026)[7]. Grasshoff's catalogue and computations are not published digitally, Hoffmann published three versions of the Manitius+Hoffmann[8] star lists in the CDS VizieR "catalog of catalogs", and Glover printed the star lists constellationwise in his book.

Hipparchus's star in Aquarius (Glover 2026)
hipp.Cat.ID constStarID starName ident.Bayer ident.HIP concordance
223 1 α Crv 59199 CPAE
224 2 β Crv 61359 CPAE
225 3 γ Crv 59803 CPAE
226 4 δ Crv 60965 CPAE
227 5 ε Crv 59316 CPAE
228 6 ζ Crv 60189 CPAE
Geminos

Almagest Κόραξ.

id Greek

(Heiberg 1898)

English

(Toomer 1984)

ident.
Κόρακος ἀστερισμός Constellation of Corvus
1 ὁ ἐν τῷ ῥάμφει καὶ κοιφὸς τοῦ Ὕδρου. The star in the beak, which is [applied in] common to Hydra alf Crv
2 ὁ ἐν τῷ τραχήλῳ πρὸς τῇ κεφαλῇἡ The star in the neck, by the head eps Crv
3 ὁ ἐν τῷ στήθει. The star in the breast zet Crv
4 ὁ ἐν τῇ προηγουμένῃ καὶ δεξιᾷ πτέρυγι. The star in the advance, right wing gam Crv
5 τῶν ἐν τῇ ἐπομένῃ πτέρογι β’ ὁ ἠγούμενος; The more advanced of the 2 stars in the rear wing del Crv
6 ὁ ἐπόμενος αὐτῶ The rearmost of them eta Crv
7 ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρου τοῦ ποδὸς κοιφὸς τοῦ Ὕδρου The star on the end of the leg, which is [applied in] common to Hydra bet Crv
all ὁ ἀστέρες ξ, ὧν γ’ μεγέθους ἔ, δ’ ἂ, ε’ ἄ {17 stars, 5 of the third magnitude, 1 of the fourth, 1 of the fifth}
Convex Hull for the stars inside Korax (CC BY Youla Azkarrula).
Stars within the Constellation Area
id Label IAU design. description Vmag
1 Gienah HIP 59803 Constellation lines (Vertex) 2.58
2 Kraz HIP 61359 Constellation lines (Vertex) 2.64
3 Algorab HIP 60965 Constellation lines 2.94
4 ϵ Corvi HIP 59316 Constellation lines (Vertex) 2.98
5 Alchiba HIP 59199 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.01
6 η Corvi HIP 61174 Constellation lines (Vertex) 4.294
7 ζ Corvi HIP 60189 Constellation lines 5.21
8 3 Crv HIP 59394 Inside the hull 5.47
9 - HIP 59728 Inside the hull 5.807
10 - HIP 60157 Inside the hull 5.97
11 - HIP 60809 Inside the hull 6.294
12 - HIP 61208 Inside the hull 6.39

Transfer and Transformation of the Constellation

  • Hydra with Crater and Corvus on the Kugel Globe (-1st c., drawing by SMH)
    Hydra with Crater and Corvus on the Kugel Globe (-1st c., drawing by SMH)
  • Hydra with Corvus and Crater on the Mercator Globe (1551)
    Hydra with Corvus and Crater on the Mercator Globe (1551)
  • Hydra in the Uranometria (1603), Corvus not drawn but in map
    Hydra in the Uranometria (1603), Corvus not drawn but in map
  • Corvus in Flamsteed (1776)
    Corvus in Flamsteed (1776)
  • Corvus and Crater in Fortin's Atlas Céleste, 3rd edition (1795).
    Corvus and Crater in Fortin's Atlas Céleste, 3rd edition (1795).
  • Corvus in Hall (1825)
    Corvus in Hall (1825)
  • (1952) H.A. Rey's stick figure of Corvus
    (1952) H.A. Rey's stick figure of Corvus
  • (1988) O. Hlad's stick figure of Corvus
    (1988) O. Hlad's stick figure of Corvus

Mythology

References

  1. ↑ Hoffmann, Susanne M. Wie der Löwe an den Himmel kam. Franckh Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2021
  2. ↑ Hoffmann, S. M., <i>Hipparchs Himmelsglobus</i>. Springer Wiesbaden/ New York, 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-18683-8.
  3. ↑ Eratosthenes: Sternsagen, übersetzt von Pamìas, Jordi und Geus, Klaus, Verlag Utopica, Oberhaid 2007
  4. ↑ Vogt, H., “Versuch einer Wiederherstellung von Hipparchs Fixsternver zeichnis”, <i>Astronomische Nachrichten</i>, vol. 224, no. 2, Wiley, p. 17, 1925. doi:10.1002/asna.19252240202.
  5. ↑ Graßhoff, G., <i>The History of Ptolemy's Star Catalogue</i>, Springer, New York, 1990
  6. ↑ Hoffmann, S. M., <i>Hipparchs Himmelsglobus</i>. Springer Wiesbaden/ New York, 2017. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-18683-8.
  7. ↑ Glover, E. (2026). The Astronomy of Hipparchus, Cambridge University Press
  8. ↑ Hipparchus's Lost Star Catalogue (1/2 reconstructed) (Hoffmann, 2017) in VizieR
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