Corvus
Corvus, a small but crisp trapezoid. It holds the colliding Antennae Galaxies and the legend of the crow that Apollo turned black.
Science
The scienceEasily recognized as a small but crisp trapezoid low in the southern spring sky. Though it has no bright stars, its striking shape led many ancient civilizations to mark it out as a separate constellation. Within it lie the "Antennae Galaxies" (NGC 4038/4039), two galaxies in the act of colliding, a textbook case for the study of galactic collisions.
Mythology
How it became a constellationApollo set his white crow to watch over his lover Coronis. When the crow reported her unfaithfulness, the enraged Apollo shot Coronis with his bow, but soon regretted it and, blaming the crow for bringing such ill news, turned it black and flung it into the sky.
Observing Guide
how to observe🔭 How to find it
On a spring evening, low in the southern sky, look for a small group of four modestly bright stars forming a neat trapezoid (a lopsided quadrilateral), and you've found Corvus. It sits just southwest of the bright star Spica in Virgo, so find Spica first and look below it to spot Corvus easily. With no bright stars around, the trapezoid shape actually stands out all the more clearly.
✨ What to look for
Corvus's most famous object is the "Antennae Galaxies" (NGC 4038/4039), two spiral galaxies colliding and flinging out long tidal tails of stars — a textbook case for the study of galaxy collisions and mergers. They are very faint, however, and are essentially targets for photography. Near the western edge of the trapezoid lies the planetary nebula NGC 4361, but overall this is a small constellation with few bright deep-sky objects.
📍 Where to see it (US · Canada · UK · Australia)
From the US, Canada and UK, Corvus sits low in the southern sky on spring evenings (April–June); at declinations around −20° it barely climbs above 30° from the US and stays lower still — near the horizon — from northern Britain and Canada, so an open southern horizon is needed. From Australia the little trapezoid rides high overhead on autumn evenings, far better placed than in the north.