Constellations · Constellation · Piscis Austrini · PsA
Constellation
Piscis Austrinus
The southern fish, drinking the water the Water-bearer pours. Its mouth is Fomalhaut, “the Autumn Star”, alone in a watery sky.
- Genitive
- Piscis Austrini
- Area
- 245 square degrees · 60th of 88
- Brightest star
- Fomalhaut · magnitude 1.17
- Naked-eye stars
- 46 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- late August
Myth
The parent of the two fish of Pisces — in Babylon, linked to the fish-god Ea.
Science
Fomalhaut is ringed by a vast, sharp-edged belt of dust. A “planet” photographed inside it in 2008 is now thought to have been a cloud of debris from a collision.