04/27/2017 – Ephemeris – A constellation story on why crows are black

Ephemeris for Thursday, April 27th.  The Sun rises at 6:38.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 4 minutes, setting at 8:42.  The Moon, 1 day past new, will set at 10:16 this evening.

The small constellation of Corvus the crow is located low in the south-southeast at 10:30 this evening. It’s made of 5 dim stars, but the pattern is a distinctive distorted box with two stars at the upper left marking that corner. To the right is a fainter constellation of a thick stemmed goblet called Crater. Both appear above the long constellation of Hydra the water snake who is slithering just above the southern horizon.. In Greek mythology Corvus, then white, was the god Apollo’s pet. Apollo once bid Corvus to take a cup and fetch him some water. Corvus however dallied and waited for an unripe fig to ripen. Corvus grabbed a snake and returned with a story as to how the snake had delayed him.  The angry Apollo turned the crow and all crows to this day black.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Corvus, Crater and Hydra finder chart for 10:30 p.m. April 27, 2017. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.