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Apus
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Apus

astronomy
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Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Greek:
“Without Feet”
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Apus, constellation in the southern sky at about 16 hours right ascension and 80° south in declination. Its brightest star is Alpha Apodis, with a magnitude of 3.8. This constellation was invented by Pieter Dircksz Keyser, a navigator who joined the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies in 1595 and who added 12 new constellations in the southern skies. Apus represents a bird-of-paradise, which at the time was believed to have no feet and thus was always airborne.

Erik Gregersen