monthly skyguide, free star charts, constellation star charts, sky guide

Corvus and Crater - the Crow and the Cup

 

Mythology - The crow was the symbolic bird of Apollo. Apollo was unhappy with the crow because he gave it the cup to collect pure water for a sacrifice. The crow spied some figs and waited until they were ripe to eat and was so late returning that Apollo had to make do with less water for his needs. Fearing that Apollo would be angry with him for being so late, the crow captured a water snake (Hydra) to use as an alibi claiming the snake caused the delay. To punish the crow for his tardiness, Apollo cursed the crow by giving him a sore throat during the time when the figs are ripening. Apollo also changed the color of the crow from snow white to black and placed the crow, the cup and the serpent in the sky as a warning to others who would try to lie to a god.
Stars - Both Algorab (delta corvii) and gamma craterii are good double stars, with the former showing a marked colour contrast of white and blue
Deepsky - NGC 4631 is a small planetary nebula in Corvus best seen with large binoculars or telescope.
Visibility - Both of these are low down in the sky and visible from April until July