What is "grus"

Grus \Grus\ prop. n. [L. the crane.] (Astron.) A constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere between Indus and Piscis Austrinus.

Grus (, or colloquially ) is a constellation in the southern sky. Its name is Latin for the crane, a type of bird. It is one of twelve constellations conceived by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman. Grus first appeared on a 35-cm (14 in) diameter celestial globe published in 1598 in Amsterdam by Plancius and Jodocus Hondius and was depicted in Johann Bayer's star atlas Uranometria of 1603. French explorer and astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille gave Bayer designations to its stars in 1756, some of which had been previously considered part of the neighbouring constellation Piscis Austrinus. The constellations Grus, Pavo, Phoenix and Tucana are collectively known as the "Southern Birds".

The constellation's brightest star, Alpha Gruis, is also known as Alnair and appears as a 1.7- magnitude blue-white star. Beta Gruis is a red giant variable star with a minimum magnitude of 2.3 and a maximum magnitude of 2.0. Six star systems have been found to have planets: the red dwarf Gliese 832 is one of the closest stars to Earth to have a planetary system. Another— WASP-95—has a planet that orbits every two days. Deep-sky objects found in Grus include the planetary nebula IC 5148, also known as the Spare Tyre Nebula, and a group of four interacting galaxies known as the Grus Quartet.

Grus can refer to

• Grus (genus), a genus of birds in the crane family
  • Grus grus, the common crane
• Grus (constellation), the constellation "Crane"
• Grus (geology), an accumulation of angular, coarse-grained fragments (particles of sand and gravel) resulting from the granular disintegration of crystalline rocks

Grus is a genus of large birds in the crane family. The genus name is from Latin; grus, "crane". Grus was first applied to the grey-winged trumpeter, but this was overlooked for many years so it was retained for the cranes as a nomen conservandum.

Grus is an accumulation of angular, coarse-grained fragments (particles of sand and gravel) resulting from the granular disintegration by the processes of chemical and mechanical weathering of crystalline rocks (most notably granitoids) generally in an arid or semiarid region. Grus sand, when cemented into a sandstone, will form an arkose.

The modern constellation Grus lies across one of the quadrants symbolized by the The Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ), and The Southern Asterisms (近南極星區, Jìnnánjíxīngōu), that divide the sky in traditional Chinese uranography.

Constellation Grus in Chinese sky is not fully seen. Al Na'ir (Alpha Gruis) and Gruid (Beta Gruis) are bright stars in this constellation that possibly never seen in Chinese sky.

The name of the western constellation in modern Chinese is 天鶴座 (tiān hè zuò), meaning "the heaven crane constellation".