The vernal equinox is currently located in Pisces, due south of ω Psc, and, due to precession, slowly drifting below the western fish towards Aquarius.
Stars
Van Maanen's Star, at 12.35 magnitude, is located in this constellation, along with others, such as HD 222410, at 7.45 magnitude.
is a loosely wound spiral galaxy in Pisces, found at a distance of 30 million light years. It has many clusters of young stars and the associated nebulae, showing extensive regions of star formation. It was discovered by Pierre Méchain, a French astronomer, in 1780. A type II-P supernova was discovered in the outer regions of M74 by Robert Evans in June 2003; the star that underwent the supernova was later identified as a red supergiant with a mass of 8 solar masses. NGC 488 is an isolated face-on prototypical spiral galaxy. NGC 520 is a pair of colliding galaxies located 90 million lightyears away. CL 0024+1654 is a massive galaxy cluster that lenses the galaxy behind it, creating arc-shaped images of the background galaxy. The cluster is primarily made up of yellow elliptical and spiral galaxies, at a distance of 3.6 billion light-years from Earth, half as far away as the background galaxy, which is at a distance of 5.7 billion light-years. 3C 31 is an active galaxy and radio source in Perseus located at a distance of 237 million light-years from Earth. Its jets, caused by the supermassive black hole at its center, extend several million light-years in both directions, making them some of the largest objects in the universe.
History and mythology
Pisces originates from some composition of the Babylonian constellations Šinunutu4 "the great swallow" in current western Pisces, and Anunitum the "Lady of the Heaven", at the place of the northern fish. In the first-millennium BC texts known as the Astronomical Diaries, part of the constellation was also called DU.NU.NU.
Greco-Roman period
Pisces is associated with the Greek legend that Aphrodite and her son Eros either shape-shifted into forms of fishes to escape, or were rescued by two fishes. In the Greek version according to Hyginus, Aphrodite and Eros while visiting Syria fled from the monster Typhon by leaping into the Euphrates River and transforming into fishes. The Roman variant of the story has Venus and Cupid carried away from this danger on the backs of two fishes. And in the version by the Persian astronomer al-Sufi, Venus and Cupid tied themselves together with a cord in order not to lose each other in the Euphrates. The knot of the rope is marked by Alpha Piscium, also called Al-Rischa. There is also a somewhat different origin tale that Hyginus preserved in another work. According to this, an egg rolled into the Euphrates, and some fishes nudged this to shore, after which the doves sat on the egg until Aphrodite hatched out of it. The fishes were then rewarded by being placed in the skies as a constellation. This story is also recorded by the Third Vatican Mythographer.
Modern period
In 1690, the astronomer Johannes Hevelius in his Firmamentum Sobiescianum regarded the constellation Pisces as being composed of four subdivisions:
Be aware that Piscis Austrinus more often refers to a separate constellation in its own right. Both fish depicted in Pisces are said to be the offspring of the one greater fish in the constellation Piscis Austrinus. In 1754, the astronomer John Hill proposed to treat part of Pisces as a separate constellation, called Testudo 24 – 27 – YY – 33 – 29 Psc., centred a natural but faint asterism in which the star 20 Psc is intended to be the head of the turtle. While Admiral Smyth mentioned the proposal, it was largely neglected by other astronomers, and it is now obsolete.
Western folklore
The Fishes are also associated with the German legend of Antenteh, who owned just a tub and a crude cabin when he met a magical fish. They offered him a wish, which he refused. However, his wife begged him to return to the fish and ask for a beautiful furnished home. This wish was granted, but her desires were not satisfied. She then asked to be a queen and have a palace, but when she asked to become a goddess, the fish became angry and took the palace and home, leaving the couple with the tub and cabin once again. The tub in the story is sometimes recognized as the Great Square of Pegasus.
In non-Western astronomy
The stars of Pisces were incorporated into several constellations in Chinese astronomy. Wai-ping was a fence that kept a pig farmer from falling into the marshes and kept the pigs where they belonged. It was represented by Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Mu, Nu, and Xi Piscium. The marshes were represented by the four stars designated Phi Ceti. The northern fish of Pisces was a part of the House of the Sandal, Koui-siou.
Astrology
Pisces is a dim constellation located next to Aquarius, and Aries. While the astrological sign Pisces per definition runs from ecliptical longitude 330° to 0, this position is now mostly covered by the constellation of Aquarius, due to the precession from when the constellation and the sign roughly coincided.
