Piscis Austrinus

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

The Greek constellation ...

Origin of Constellation

Almagest

	Ἰχθύος νοτίου ἀστερισμός
id	Greek (Heiberg 1898)	English (Toomer 1984)	ident.
1	ὁ ἐν τῷ στόματι ὁ αὐτὸς τῇ ἀρχῇ τοῦ Ὕδατος
2	τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς φοτίου τῆς κεφαλῆς περιφερεύας γ’ ὁ ἠγούμενος
3	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν
4	ὁ ἑπόμενος τῶν τριῶν
5	ὁ πρὸς τῷ βράγχω
6	ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς νωτιαίας νοτίου ἀκάνθης
	τῶν ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ β ὁ ἑπόμενος
	ὁ προηγούμενος αὐτῶν
	τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς βορείου ἀκάνθης ἢ’ ὁ ἐπόμενος
	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶν
	ὁ προηγούμενος τῶν τριῶν.
	ὁ ἐπ’ ἄκρας τῆς οὐρᾶς
	ἀστέρες ἴα, ὧν δ’ μεγέθους θ, ε β
	Οἱ περὶ τὸν νότιον Ἰχθὺν ἀμόρφωτοι.
	τῶν προηγουμένων λαμπρῶν φ τοῦ Ἰχθύος ὁ ἠγούμενος
	ὁ μέσος αὐτῶ
	ὁ ἐπόμευος τῶν τριῶη
	ὁ τούτου προηγούμενος ἀμαυρός
	τῶν λοιπῶν πρὸς ἄρκτους β’ ὁ νοτιώτερος
	ὁ βορειότερος αὐτῶν
all	ἀστέρες ξ, ὥν γ’ μεγέθους γ, δ’ β, εα.

Weblinks

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

References

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