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The following information from
Wikipedia:
Pronunciation: KOR vee
Meaning in English: the Crow
On meridian 21:00 May 10
Area - Total Ranked 70th (184 sq. deg.)
Stars with apparent magnitude < 3: 2
Brightest star - Apparent magnitude Gienah (2.59)
Meteor showers: Corvids (26 June)
Bordering constellations: Virgo, Crater, Hydra
Corvus (Latin - the crow, or raven) is a small southern constellation with only 11 stars visible to the naked eye (brighter than magnitude 5.5). It was one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, and also counts among the 88 modern constellations.
Notable deep sky objects
Corvus contains no Messier objects. The Ringtail peculiar galaxy consists of the possibly colliding NGC 4038 and NGC 4039, and appears to have a heart shape as seen from Terra.
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The following info from
The Peoria Astronomical Society
Corvus
Abbreviation: Crv
Genitive: Corvi
Right Ascension: 12.46 hours
Declination: -13.33 degrees
Corvus, the Crow, is visible in the Northern Hemisphere from January until May If you live in the lower latitudes.
Corvus, the Crow, is a sacred bird of Phoebus Apollo in connection with giving prophetic functions. His wings were originally silver but were turned to black when he delivered bad news concerning the unfaithfulness of Cornis to Apollo.
Another story is where the bird is sent for a cup of water and returned to Apollo late, a water-snake in its grasp and a lie in its mouth. As punishment Apollo banished the bird to the stars just out of reach of a cup of water, which is guarded by Hydra.
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Some information from
Chris Dolan's Homepage, some information from me (amateur astronomy buff/former Latin student/gamer), and some information from
Wikipedia
Corvus has five named stars. They are:
Alchiba (Alpha Crv)
Kraz (Beta Crv)
Gienah Ghurab (Gamma Crv)
Algorab (Delta Crv)
Minkar (Epsilon Crv)
For those of you who may not know, most stars are designated using Greek letters and Latin genitives. Greek letters are obviously the letters of the Greek alphabet, of which Alpha is the first letter and Omega the last. A genitive is a sort of possessive form, so "Corvi" means "of Corvus."
This type of stellar designation is called the Bayer designation, after Johann Bayer, who devised it in 1603. It's supposed to work that the brightest star in a constellation is the Alpha star, the second-brightest the Beta star, and so on and so forth, but this does not always hold true. Corvus is one such constellation where the Alpha star is not the brightest. There's another problem with the Bayer system, which is that the brightest stars in the sky may be very far away and thus look the dimmest from Earth. Alas, it's a big universe.
In addition to its five named stars, the constellation Corvus has numerous other, dimmer stars which do not have proper names. There are, after all, billions of stars in the sky, so most stars in the sky don't have names.
While the thought of sending a space ship to one of these named stars for colonization is common in science fiction computer games, most of the stars which are named are huge, many times larger than our sun, and thus the chances of there being planets suitable for human habitation in orbit around them are slim. So the next time your computer game suggests you send a colony ship to Betelgeuse or Vega, just shake your head in wonder.
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Wikipedia says:
Corvus is the genus name of large Passerine birds including the raven and crow species.
Corvus (Latin - the crow, or raven) is a small southern constellation.
Corvus (Latin - the crow, or raven) was weapon used on Roman ships during the First Punic War.
Corvus is an alternative music band based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Corvus is a computer hardware manufacturer.
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From
Absolute Astronomy
Alchiba is the Alpha star of Corvus (Alpha Corvi) and is also known as Alchita, Al Minliar, Al Ghurab, and Al Chiba.
