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Sky Chart and Artist Rendering of Pavo
Origin:
One of the constellations in the southern sky, formally introduced by Johann Bayer in Uranometria in
1603. Its origins date back several years earlier and is attributed
to the Dutch navigator P.D. Keyser. Pavo commemorates the
Peacock. Two other exotic birds grace the south celestial polar
region; Tucana (the Toucan) and Apus (Bird of Paradise). Bayer is very likely
commemorating the peacock in Greek mythology.
Information:
Of the exotic birds, Pavo is the only one in which the star group can
easily be traced. The constellation is not visible by observers
north of 30° N lat. Pavo contains a few good galaxies for observers
with telescopes larger than 25 cm (10") and a large condensed
globular cluster. For southern observers, Pavo culminates on
September 20 at 9 pm.
Mythology:
Queen Hera, wife of Zeus, was an exceedingly jealous wife, and with some
cause. Zeus had at least fifty lovers and made little pretense of
discretion. Hera often exacted revenge in some way on his
lovers. Io, one of Hera's priestesses, was one of Zeus' lovers and
Hera, of course, discovered the affair. To protect Io from Hera,
Zeus changed her into a cow. Not fooled by this ruse, Hera claimed
ownership of the cow, then chose the monster Argus Panoptes to guard the
animal. Argus Panoptes, as the name implies, had many eyes which, in
Hera's opinion, should have been sufficient to guard one small cow.
Zeus conscripted Hermes to rescuing Io. To avoid being seen by one
of Argus' many eyes, Hermes charmed the monster with a flute while it was
asleep, crushed it with a huge boulder, and (just to be sure) cut off its
head. Hera exacted her revenge by sending a fly to mercilessly
bother Io. Zeus changed Io back into human form after she left
for Egypt. To honor her servant, Hera put all of Argus' many eyes on
the tail of her favorite and sacred bird, the peacock. |
