Constellations · Constellation · Phoenicis · Phe
Constellation
Phoenix
The phoenix, the bird that burns and rises from its own ashes — a Dutch navigators’ constellation from the 1590s.
- Genitive
- Phoenicis
- Area
- 469 square degrees · 37th of 88
- Brightest star
- Ankaa · magnitude 2.40
- Naked-eye stars
- 74 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- early October
History
One of the twelve southern figures of Keyser and de Houtman. To Arab astronomers these stars had been a boat on the river Eridanus.
Look for
Its brightest star, Ankaa, takes its name from the Arabic for the phoenix, al-ʿanqāʾ.