Constellation, Fly
Musca
A fly just south of the Southern Cross, set next to the chameleon by Dutch navigators who watched chameleons catch flies on Madagascar.
From New York the constellation Musca never rises above the horizon: it belongs to the other hemisphere’s sky.
From New York the constellation Musca never rises above the horizon: it belongs to the other hemisphere’s sky.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Musca. Drag to look around.
Loading 3D view...
Drag to look around, pinch or scroll to zoom.
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
Musca is one of the twelve southern figures created from star observations by the Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman on the first Dutch voyages to the East Indies. During a stop on Madagascar the sailors saw chameleons flicking out their tongues to catch flies. So in the sky the fly sits beside Chamaeleon. Petrus Plancius first drew the insect on his globe of 1598, but left it without a name. In de Houtman’s catalogue of 1603 it is called De Vlieghe, Dutch for fly.
The name Musca first appeared on a globe by Willem Janszoon Blaeu in 1602. Johann Bayer, also in 1603, called the insect Apis, the bee, probably because the globes he copied had left it unnamed. That mistake lasted for two centuries, and Johann Bode still used it in 1801, even though Lacaille had correctly called it a fly. For a time it was Musca Australis, the southern fly, while a northern fly also existed in the sky.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Musca
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| α Mus | α Mus | 2.69 | 315 light-years |
| β Mus | β Mus | 3.04 | 342 light-years |
| δ Mus | δ Mus | 3.61 | 91 light-years |
| λ Mus | λ Mus | 3.63 | 127 light-years |
| γ Mus | γ Mus | 3.84 | 325 light-years |
| ε Mus | ε Mus | 4.06 | 301 light-years |
| μ Mus | μ Mus | 4.75 | 430 light-years |
| η Mus | η Mus | 4.79 | 383 light-years |
| HIP 64820 | HIP 64820 | 4.86 | 1,195 light-years |
| HIP 57851 | HIP 57851 | 4.89 | 362 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 138 square degrees (77 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Mus |
| Sky | Southern sky |
| Origin | First shown, still unnamed, on a celestial globe by Petrus Plancius in 1598, from observations by Keyser and de Houtman |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 11 |
| Centre (J2000) | 12.4 h, -69° |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| NGC4463 | Open cluster | 7.2 |
| NGC4833 | Globular cluster | 7.8 |
| NGC4815 | Open 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.