the southern sky received the names used today only with the journeys of the famous explorers. Due to the important role that technical progress and new explorations played during that time names like »Air Pump«, »Furnace« or »Bird of Paradise« were chosen. Mapping the sky the sailors and astronomers paid little respect to the cultures of the native peoples, so most of their astronomical knowledge was lost.

Today the sky is divided up in 88 constellations that were laid down internationally in 1925 and 1928. Being some kind of map, they help orientating in the sky and break it down to smaller and more recognisable sections.

The Southern Sky holds many of the most beautiful astronomical objects that can be watched with an amateur telescope or the naked eye: Alpha Centauri, the Magellanic Clouds, the Southern Cross, 47 Tucanae, to only name a few, shine bright in front of the Milky Way that stretches like a silver band across the sky. Knowing only the northern stars so far, many constellations will be new, as they are not visible from the northern hemisphere. But also some of the familiar can be spotted, strangely rotated or upside down.

In contrast to the northern constellations and stars that got their names in classical antiquity already and therefore mainly tell of scenes and stories from ancient myths and fables,

	lat. name	abbrev.
Octant	Octans	Oct
Peacock	Pavo	Pav
Phoenix	Phoenix	Phe
Reticle	Reticulum	Ret
Sails	Vela	Vel
Sculptor	Sculptor	Scl
Sextant	Sextans	Sex
Southern Cross	Crux	Cru
Southern Crown	Corona Australis	CrA
Southern Fish	Pisces Austrinus	PsA
Southern Triangle	Triangulum Australis	TrA
Square	Norma	Nor
Stern	Puppis	Pup
Table	Mensa	Men
Telescope	Telescopium	Tel
Toucan	Tucana	Tuc
Water Serpen	Hydrus	Hyd
Wolf	Lupus	Lup

	lat. name	abbrev.
Altar	Ara	Ara
Air Pump	Antila	Ant
Bird of Paradise	Apus	Aps
Centaur	Centaurus	Cen
Chameleon	Chameleon	Cha
Chisel	Caelum	Cae
Clock	Horologium	Hor
Compass	Pyxis	Pyx
Compasses	Circinus	Cir
Crane	Grus	Gru
Dove	Columba	Col
Easel	Pictor	Pic
Fly	Musca	Mus
Flying Fish	Volans	Vol
Furnace	Fornax	For
Goldfish	Dorado	Dor
Indian	Indus	Ind
Keel	Carina	Car
Microscope	Microscopium	Mic