One of the southern constellations introduced by the Dutch navigators Pieter
Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman at the end of the 16th century. Apus
represents a fabulous bird of paradise, as found in New Guinea, but it is a
disappointing tribute to such an exotic animal. The name comes from the Greek apous, meaning “footless”, since the birds were originally known to westerners only from dead specimens
from which the feet and wings had been removed.
Apus was first shown on the 1598 celestial globe of Petrus Plancius as “Paradysvogel Apis Indica”. Johann Bayer on his Uranometria atlas of 1603 also called it Apis Indica, while others (such as Johannes Kepler in the Rudolphine Tables of 1627) referred to it as “Avis” Indica, or bird of India. Lacaille called it Apus on his influential southern chart of 1763 but the alternative usages of Apis and Avis continued to Bode’s day. Apus has no named stars, nor are there any legends associated with it.
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Apus seen in the Uranographia of Johann Bode (1801), where it was given the alternative title of Avis Indica, the Indian bird, referring to its habitat of the East Indies.
© Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved
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