[AJames]

Originally Posted by bkm2304

Ignosce mihi, O Jacobe, but the old latin scholar in me has awoken! Avis is latin for bird and this makes sense being in constellation of Apus the bird of paradise, which interestingly refers to "no feet" -English descendents are "pedal" and "pedestrian" the "a" prefix denoting no feet. You see this in the genitive - or possessive - case "apodis" - and it is not far to pedal (so to speak) and pedestrian in English. I think you mean the adjective, gravis - meaning heavy or weighty or important - eg gravitas.

Ricardus sum!
Vales!

No, pardon me!

You are perfectly correct, I've mixed up with the word gravis. The "no feet" translation is I think from the Greek. The Latin word for bird I also think is sometimes Aves

This faint southern constellation is based on the Papua/New Guinea "Superb Bird of Paradise" - Lophorina superba, and was introduced to the sky by Pieter Keyser and Frederick Houtman around 1596. The males and females are completely different colours - which I presume the greenish-blue and bluish-black male as it has the more obvious plumage.

Oddly there is actually no Bird of Paradise per se, as the name refers to the group of birds of the tropical rainforests - hence Birds of Paradise.

Gamma Apodis itself is the place of the eye of the Bird of Paradise. I notice however, that Stellarium, for example, places the star near the underbelly of the bird. When the wings are folded, it lies in the centre of the greenish-blue wing.

Also the actual brightest star in Apus is probably open to debate. Alpha is 3.80 V magnitude and is a K5III type stars. Gamma is 3.85V magnitude. Some older sources state Gamma is brighter - but it is much of a muchness to the naked-eye.

Andrew

(Aves in manus manus est dignitas duos in frutex-
Bird in the hand is worth two in the bush!)