Piscis Austrinus: Difference between revisions

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[[Fomalhaut]] traditionally represents the mouth of the fish. Its companion Fomalhaut b was thought to be the first extrasolar planet ever detected by a visible light image, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, but infrared observations have since retracted this claim: it is instead a spherical cloud of dust. TW Piscis Austrini can be seen close by and is possibly associated with Fomalhaut as it lies within a light year of it. <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscis_Austrinus Piscis Austrinus]</ref>
[[Fomalhaut]] traditionally represents the mouth of the fish. Its companion Fomalhaut b was thought to be the first extrasolar planet ever detected by a visible light image, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope, but infrared observations have since retracted this claim: it is instead a spherical cloud of dust. TW Piscis Austrini can be seen close by and is possibly associated with Fomalhaut as it lies within a light year of it. <ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piscis_Austrinus Piscis Austrinus]</ref>


==Mythology==


Piscis Austrinis represents the "Oxyrinque adored in Egypt," important in Egyptian mythology as "the fish that swallowed the penis of Osiris." Isis fashioned a replacement for Osiris' missing penis or phallus, either out of clay, wood or gold, and attached this to her dead husband's body, brought him to life and conceived Horus. The replacement phallus should also relate to this constellation. Diodorus Siculus (circe 1st B.C.) says Isis commanded that their temples in an erect position and that this is the myth about the birth of Priapus, also called by some Ithyphallus (Greek ithus or ithys 'straight or erect' + phallus). Priapism is a persistent, usually painful erection of the penis. The human penis relies entirely on engorgement with blood to reach its erect state. Piscis Austrinus is a drinking fish, depicted with its mouth open drinking (or engorging) the water pouring from the jar of Aquarius. In astrology Aquarius rules the circulation of blood (among other things) [3]. Thishauriant fish (a fish posture that show a fish rising, or swimming vertically upwards) might represent the penile erection.<ref>[http://www.constellationsofwords.com/Constellations/PiscisAustralis.html Constellation of Words]</ref>