Aquila - The Eagle

Learn about the constellation Aquila - The Eagle, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

It is one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy, also mentioned by Eudoxus (4th cent. B.C.) and Aratus (3rd cent. B.C.). and now also part of the list of 88 constellations acknowledged by the IAU. It lies roughly at the celestial equator. The alpha star, Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism.

Location: Northern Summer 20h RA 5° Dec

Ptolemy catalogued nineteen stars jointly in this constellation and in the constellation Antinous, which was named in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (A.D. 117-138), but sometimes, and wrongly, attributed to Tycho Brahe, who catalogued twelve stars in Aquila and seven in Antinous; Hevelius determined twenty-three stars in the first, and nineteen in the second.

Aquila Mythology

Aquila is the name of the eagle which carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was sent by him to carry the shepherd boy Ganymede who he desired, represented by the neighbouring Aquarius, to Mount Olympus where he became the wine-pourer for all the gods.

Aquila Deep Space Objects

Eta Aquilae is one of the brightest Cepheid variables. It ranges in magnitude from 4.1 to magnitude 5.3 every 7.2 days. It is a supergiant star about 3000 times more luminous than the Sun and located 1200 light years from Earth.

57 Aquilae is a binary star easy to spot with binoculars or a small telescope. Its two components shine at 6th magnitude and are separated by 36 arcseconds.