Constellation Chart

The Bird of Paradise

Apus is one of those small and inconsequential constellations adapted from others in 1603 by Johann Bayer, designed to fill in the blanks in the Southern Hemisphere. Apart from several binaries and a faint globular cluster little else is found in this portion of the southern skies. Apus, or Bird of Paradise, was known from sixteenth century voyagers, also being called "Apus Indica" or Bird of India. Some say it comes from the Greek apous, meaning without feet, as a reference to a Greek myth about the swallow, which was said to be legless.

From the paucity of interesting elements in this constellation, it might be argued that the name comes from the Greek apousia, which means "absence". In 1603 Johann Bayer included it in Uranometria, his book of constellations, and it's been with us ever since. Most of the Bayer stars are fourth and fifth magnitude.

Statistic

Genitive : Apodis
Abbreviation : Aps
Right Ascension : 13h45 to 18h17
Declination : -67.5° to -82.9°
Area (sq deg) : 206
Brightest Star : Alpha Apodis
Optimum Visibility : May/June

The name given to a region of the sky near the Southern Celestial Pole, populated by a few faint and distant stars.

NGC6101

NGC6101 (Bennett 74, Caldwell 107) is a relatively faint (mag. 9.3), large (10.7'), irregularly shaped globular cluster. Like most globulars, this one is quite condensed, with stars beginning to resolve at mag. 14. It lies 2.2° south of Zeta Trianguli Australis. Less difficult but still no showpiece is NGC 6101 (16h 25.8m, -72 12'), a 3'-4' mag. 9.2 globular on the northern side of Apus 2 degrees south of Zeta Trianguli Australe. Like globulars generally, it is roundish with a dense centre. On a steady night, stars can be resolved at the fringes with a 20 cm aperture at high power.

NGC 5612

NGC 5612 (14h 34.1m, -78 24') lies just over a degree NW of Alpha Aps, and is an oblique mag. 12.1 spiral 2' long.

NGC 5799

NGC 5799 is a faint spiral lying 25' south of CapO 15.

IC 4499

IC 4499 (15h 00.3m, -82 13'), a faint mag. 10.1 globular cluster in the far south, does not exactly hit you in the eye. That it was missed by John Herschel tells you something, and with a C8 it's a bit of a struggle. Wait for a dark night and look for a small circular smudge 3' in diameter.