Pavo - Peacock

Learn about the constellation Pavo - Peacock, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

Pavo was one of twelve constellations created by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597.

Location: Southern Constellation 20h RA -65° Dec

Pavo is Latin for peacock. In Australia "the Saucepan" is sometimes used as an informal name for part of the constellation when finding the south by the stars. The most famous star in the constellation is δ Pavonis, a nearby Sun-like but more evolved star. φ2 Pavonis, another Sun-like star has an unconfirmed extrasolar planet.

Pavo is the radiant of two annual meteor showers: the Delta Pavonids and August Pavonids.

Pavo Mythology

In Greek myth the stars that are now the Peacock were Argos (or Argus), builder of the ship Argo. He was changed by the goddess Juno into a peacock and placed in the sky along with his ship. The peacock "symbolized the starry firmament" for the Greeks, and the goddess Hera was believed to drive through the heavens in a chariot drawn by peacocks.

Pavo Deep Space Objects

The deep-sky objects in Pavo include NGC 6752, the third-brightest globular cluster in the sky, after 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri. An estimated 100 light-years across, it is thought to contain 100,000 stars.

Lying three degrees to the south is NGC 6744, a spiral galaxy around 30 million light years away from Earth that resembles the Milky Way, but is twice its diameter. A type 1c supernova was discovered in the galaxy in 2005, known as SN2005at, it peaked at magnitude 16.8.

In this table, the observation month represents the month in which the object reaches its highest point in the sky. It can also be viewed a few months before and after depending on your location. Direction is the compass direction in which the object is located, with Z meaning Zenith or overhead.