IAU Constellation (Ind) · Genitive: Indi · Southern Sky

Indus (The Indian) Constellation Guide

Indus IAU constellation (294 sq deg, rank 49): September southern sky between Grus and Pavo, led by +3.11 Alpha Indi and nearby dwarf star Epsilon Indi.

Solid-Angle Area294 sq deg (Rank #49 of 88)
Best Evening MonthSeptember
Visibility Latitudes+15° to −90°
Brightest StarAlpha Indi (+3.11)

Sky Navigation & Astrophysical Context

Spanning 294 square degrees between the Southern Birds Grus, Pavo, and Tucana down to Octans, Indus was created by Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman in 1595–1597 and engraved in Johann Bayer's 1603 Uranometria as a hunter holding arrows in both hands. Its main stellar figure is a wide triangle formed by the K0 III-IV orange giant Alpha Indi (+3.11), the K2 II bright giant Beta Indi (+3.67), and the F0 IV subgiant Delta Indi (+4.40).

Three degrees southeast of Alpha Indi shines the fifth-magnitude star Epsilon Indi (V = +4.69), one of our Solar System's closest and most astrophysically important neighbors at just 3.638 parsecs (11.87 light-years). Epsilon Indi is a quadruple-object system: its primary K5 V orange dwarf Epsilon Indi A is orbited by a cold tempering super-Jupiter exoplanet (Epsilon Indi Ab, directly imaged by JWST in 2024) and, at 1,460 AU, by a wide pair of T1 V and T6 V methane brown dwarfs (Epsilon Indi Ba and Bb).

In June 2015, the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) detected ASASSN-15lh inside a galaxy in southern Indus—one of the most luminous transient events ever recorded, peaking at an absolute magnitude of −23.5 (roughly 500 billion solar luminosities)—alongside local barred and elliptical galaxies NGC 7049, NGC 7083, and the interacting pair NGC 7205.

Bordering IAU Constellations: Microscopium, Sagittarius, Telescopium, Pavo, Octans, Tucana, Grus.

Equatorial Center Position & Transit Altitude

Indus is centered near Right Ascension 21h 18m 36s, Declination −59° 52′ 12″ (The Indian (Native American / Indigenous Hunter)).

J2000 Equatorial Sky Position (Indus) +90° 0° −90° 24h 12h RA 0h Peak Meridian Altitude 0° 40°N Lat 60° 30°S Lat RA: 21h 18m 36s Dec: −59° 52′ 12″ Epoch: J2000.0 · 294 sq deg (Rank #49) First-party vector diagram derived from IAU / CDS SIMBAD / Gaia DR3 astrometry.

Practical Star-Hopping & Observing Tips

  • Look midway between Alnair (Alpha Gruis) and Peacock (Alpha Pavonis) to spot +3.11 Alpha Indi at the northern apex of Indus.
  • Locate magnitude +4.69 Epsilon Indi 3° southeast of Alpha Indi with the unaided eye or binoculars—one of the nearest orange K-dwarf systems to Earth at 11.87 light-years.
  • Use a 75 mm+ telescope at 100× on Theta Indi (2.5° southeast of Alpha Indi) to split its +4.5 and +6.9 white and yellow components separated by 6.7 arcseconds.

Notable Celestial Objects in & Near Indus

Cataloged Stars and Deep-Sky Objects Associated with Indus
ObjectFamilyClassificationRA (J2000)Dec (J2000)Min. Instrument
47 Tucanae (NGC 104 Globular Cluster)globular-clustersGlobular cluster00h 24m 05.30s-72° 04′ 52.6″Naked eye (Southern Hemisphere)
Proxima Centauri (Nearest Star to Sun)starsRed dwarf flare star (nearest extrasolar star to the Sun)14h 29m 42.95s-62° 40′ 46.1″80–100 mm telescope with detailed finder chart (Southern Hemisphere / low northern latitudes)

Scientific Sources Cited