Constellation, Bird of Paradise
Apus
The bird of paradise, a faint figure near the south celestial pole. Its name means footless, after an old European belief that these birds had no feet.
From New York the constellation Apus never rises above the horizon: it belongs to the other hemisphere’s sky.
From New York the constellation Apus never rises above the horizon: it belongs to the other hemisphere’s sky.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Apus. Drag to look around.
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Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
Apus is one of twelve figures formed from the stars that the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman charted on the first Dutch trading voyage to the East Indies. The Amsterdam cartographer Petrus Plancius placed them on a globe he made with Jodocus Hondius in 1598. The figure is a bird of paradise, a bird of New Guinea that Europeans first knew only from traded skins. The first ones reached Europe in 1522 with the survivors of Magellan’s voyage. Their feet and wings had been removed, and the name Apus comes from the Greek apous, without feet.
Plancius labelled it Apis Indica, and apis, Latin for bee, is thought to be a misprint for avis, bird. Johann Bayer copied the name in his atlas Uranometria of 1603, and de Houtman listed it the same year as De Paradijs Voghel. In the 1750s Lacaille took some of its tail stars to help form Octans. In 2025 the IAU named its brightest star Paradys, after the original Dutch name.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Apus, Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Chapter One, page 3 (Plancius, Keyser and de Houtman), IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN): Modern IAU star names
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paradys | α Aps | 3.83 | 447 light-years |
| γ Aps | γ Aps | 3.86 | 156 light-years |
| β Aps | β Aps | 4.23 | 157 light-years |
| δ1 Aps | δ1 Aps | 4.68 | 762 light-years |
| ζ Aps | ζ Aps | 4.76 | 297 light-years |
| η Aps | η Aps | 4.89 | 138 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 207 square degrees (67 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Aps |
| Sky | Southern sky |
| Origin | First shown on the 1598 celestial globe of Petrus Plancius and Jodocus Hondius, from observations by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 6 |
| Centre (J2000) | 16.3 h, -78° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
| Object | Type | Magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| IC4499 | Globular cluster | 8.6 |
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.