Pisces Constellation Guide — Stars, the Fishes, and How to Find the Zodiac's Fishes

How to Find Pisces in the Night Sky

Pisces is the 14th-largest constellation but one of the faintest, which makes finding it a test of sky quality. The constellation forms a large V-shape in the sky, with the two fish connected by a long ribbon of stars. The easiest route is to locate the Great Square of Pegasus — Pisces stretches south and east from the Square's eastern edge. The Circlet asterism, a small ring of seven faint stars marking the head of the western fish, is the constellation's most recognisable feature. It sits just south of the Great Square and is visible under Bortle 4 or better skies.

The second fish is traced by a more scattered collection of stars extending eastward from the Circlet. The constellation's brightest star, Alrescha (Alpha Piscium), marks the knot where the two ribbons connecting the fish meet. From mid-northern latitudes, Pisces is best visible from October through December, when it stretches across the southern sky during evening hours. The constellation reaches its highest point around midnight in November.

Key Stars of Pisces

Pisces is unique among zodiac constellations for its faintness — none of its stars reach magnitude 3.5. Alrescha, the brightest, is a challenging magnitude 3.8. The name Alrescha derives from the Arabic "al-rischa," meaning "the cord" or "the rope," reflecting its position at the knot where the two fish are tied together. The constellation contains Van Maanen's Star, the closest isolated white dwarf to Earth at just 14.1 light-years. Discovered in 1917 by Dutch astronomer Adriaan van Maanen, it was the third white dwarf ever discovered (after 40 Eridani B and Sirius B). At magnitude 12.4, it requires an 8-inch telescope to spot and is a popular target for observers who enjoy tracking down nearby stars.

The Mythology of Pisces

Pisces represents two fish tied together by a cord, a symbol with remarkably stable iconography stretching back over 4,000 years. In Greek mythology, Pisces is associated with the story of Aphrodite and her son Eros (the Roman Venus and Cupid), who transformed into fish and tied themselves together with a cord to escape the monster Typhon. This is why the constellation depicts two fish connected by ribbons — a detail preserved in astronomical art across the centuries.

The Babylonian predecessors of Pisces were two separate constellations: the Great Fish and the Swallow, the latter associated with the goddess Anunitum. These two figures were later combined into a single constellation by the Greeks, who linked the pair to Syrian fish-goddess cults. The Romans preserved the Greek fish depiction, and by the time of Ptolemy's star catalogue in the 2nd century CE, the constellation was fixed in its modern form. Today, Pisces is one of the 13 zodiac constellations — the Sun passes through Pisces from approximately March 12 to April 18 each year. The Vernal Equinox (the March equinox point) lies in Pisces, making this constellation astronomically significant as the traditional starting point of the zodiac.

Deep-Sky Objects in Pisces

Observing Pisces with Binoculars

Binoculars are an excellent tool for exploring Pisces because the constellation's main asterisms are too spread out for most telescope fields. A pair of 10×50 binoculars reveals the Circlet asterism clearly as a small ring of faint stars. The Vernal Equinox point — the March point where the celestial equator and ecliptic cross — is located in Pisces, near the Circlet, though no star marks its exact position. For binocular recommendations, see our best astronomy binoculars guide.

Observing Pisces with a Telescope

M74 is Pisces's premier telescopic target, but its reputation as the Phantom Galaxy is well-earned — it is the lowest surface brightness Messier object, demanding dark skies and patience. Begin at magnitude 3.8 Alrescha, then star-hop to Eta Piscium. M74 sits about 1.2 degrees northeast of Eta Piscium. A low-power eyepiece at 50× is essential — the galaxy's large angular size (10 arcminutes) means it is easily lost in higher-power fields. Under truly dark skies (Bortle 3 or better), an 8-inch scope at 80× reveals the galaxy's bright core and the surrounding halo of the spiral disc. For telescope recommendations, see our best Dobsonian telescopes guide.

For owners of larger telescopes (10-inch or more), the interacting galaxy pair NGC 520 is a rewarding challenge object. Located about 3 degrees southwest of Alrescha, it appears as a faint, elongated glow at 150×. The asymmetry caused by the galactic collision is subtle but detectable on nights of good seeing. This is the kind of object that separates a good night at the eyepiece from a great one.

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