Piscis Austrinus, The Southern Fish Constellation

Piscis Austrinus (Pronounciation:Pye-seas Ore-strin-us, Abbrev:PsA, Latin:Piscis Austrini) is a constellation, one of 88 constellations that the night sky is divided into. The sky is not divided up equally between the constellations. Piscis Austrinus takes up 245.375 sq. degrees of the night sky which equates to 0.59% of the night sky. The constellation gets its name as it name means The Southern Fish . The constellation is one of the original constellations that was devised by the Ancient Greco-Egyptian astronomer Ptolemy who lived between 90 A.D. and 168 A.D.

Piscis Austrinus is not a member of the Zodiac group of twelve constellations that appear when the Sun sets. Piscis Austrinus is a southern hemispheric constellation which means it can't be seen easily or at all from the northern hemisphere.

The brightest star in Piscis Austrinus is Fomalhaut. There are 7 Extrasolar Planets (Exoplanets) in this constellation that are detailed on this site. There is a dedicated page for exoplanets in Piscis Austrinus. For a list of named stars, that is stars that don't start HD or HIP, please visit Piscis Austrinus Star List Page.

Piscis Austrinus Star and Deep Space Object Count

The number of stars that have been catalogued as part of the Hipparcos Star Catalogue from Piscis Austrinus is 667. The number of stars that are of magnitude 6.0 or lower in the constellation is 26. The number of stars in the constellation that make up the outline is 7.

There are no deep space objects that were identified by Charles Messier in this constellation. There are no non-Messier deep space objects in this constellation that are covered at present on this site.

Stars of Interest

The nearest star to Earth is Lacaille 9352 which is roughly about 10.68 Light Years from the Earth. The nearest star to the Earth with an exoplanet is Fomalhaut which is about 25.13 Light Years. The furthest star that can be located in the constellation is HIP 106229 which is located about 81540.84 Light Years away from the Sun. The furthest figure is derived from either the 1997 or 2007 Hipparcos star catalogue parallax figure and it has been known to produce distances that are wrong.

The dimmest star that can be seen in Piscis Austrinus with the naked eye is 21 Piscis Austrini. The dim star has an apparent magnitude of 5.99. The dimmest star that a person is able to see with their naked eye is 6.0 magnitude based on the table in the reference. Ref: University of Michigan

The caveat of these stars are that they are catalogued on this site. If you know of a star that is nearer or further then do let me know in the comments and I'll add it to the site. The stars mentioned are from the Hipparcos catalogue or have been added because of their special status.

Constellation Legend

Was the mother of Pisces. The Goddess Derecto was forced to marry a mortal by Aphrodite. After conceiving a daughter Semiramis, the spell wore off and she became a Goddess again. Derecto killed her daughter and jumped into the river therefore transforming herself into the Southern Fish.

Items of Interest

The bright star Fomalhaut is one of the earliest stars that scientists believe could have an orbit planet. It is a southern constellation and one that is known for its meteor shower in August albeit a not so bright one.

Meteor Showers

There are 1 Meteor Showers that occur during the year within this constellation based on information gathered from Adam Mickiewicz University (Poland). The Meteor Shower is known as the Piscis Austrinids.

Piscis Austrinus Facts

*Note: The number of Non-Messier Deep Space Object Count relates to how many are covered on this site not how many there are.

Piscis Austrinus Constellation Map

The map was generated using Night Vision, an awesome free application by Brian Simpson.

Meteor Showers

Piscis Austrinids Meteor Shower

The Piscis Austrinids are a faint meteor Shower that radiate from an area to the west of the brightest star Fomalhaut in the constellation of Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish. If you`re expecting something quite spectacular, you will be severly disappointed with what you get, the most you could probably get is about 10 (¹). Also happening at the same time is the Southern Delta-Aquariids which is also a faint meteor shower so where the meteor is credited can be somethings wrong.

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