Introduced by Johann Bayer in 1603 it is one of a series of celestial birds in this region of the sky including Apus, Grus, Phoenix and Tucana. In mythology the peacock was sacred to Juno, goddess of the heavens. According to legend Juno sent a creature with a 100 eyes called Argus to watch over a white heifer; Juno guessed that this heifer was the form into which her husband Jupiter had turned one of illicit lovers the nymph Io.
At Jupiter’s request Mercury decapitated the watchful Argus and released the heifer. Juno place the 100 eyes of Argus on the peacock’s tail.