"Aquila (constellation) Aquila is a constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it represents the bird that carried Zeus/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology. Its brightest star, Altair, is one vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism. The constellation is best seen in the northern summer, as it is located along the Milky Way. Because of this location, many clusters and nebulae are found within its borders, but they are dim and galaxies are few. Aquila was one of the 48 constellations described by the second-century astronomer Ptolemy. It had been earlier mentioned by Eudoxus in the"
"(bees'-nest). At Gundamine, on the Namoi, the Pleiades are called ""Gindemar""; higher up the river, at Burburgate, this constellation is called ""Dindima"" (woman), and the Hyades ""Giwīr"" (man). Sirius is called ""Zāzarī"" at Burburgate; Arcturus-""Guenmbila"", also ""Guebilla"" (bright red); the Northern Crown-""Mullion Wollai"" (eagles' camp or nest), when this constellation, which is more like a nest than a crown, is about due north on the meridian. Altair, the chief star in Aquila, rises, and is called ""Mullion-ga"" (an eagle in action)-it is springing up to watch the nest. Shortly afterwards her more majestic mate, Vega, springs up, and is also"
"and the people of Pukapuka called Altair ""Turu"" and used it as a navigational star. The Māori people named Altair ""Poutu-te-rangi"", ""Pillar of the Sky"", because of its important position in their cosmology. It was used differently in different Māori calendars, being the star of February and March in one version and March and April in the other. Altair was also the star that ruled the annual sweet potato harvest. Two United States Navy ships, USS"" Aquila"" (AK-47) and USS ""Aquila"" (PHM-4), are named after the constellation. Aquila (constellation) Aquila is a constellation on the celestial equator. Its name is"
"of Crux. Their rhea is attacked by two dogs, represented by bright stars in Centaurus and Circinus. The dogs' heads are marked by Alpha and Beta Centauri. The rhea's body is marked by the four main stars of Crux, while its head is Gamma Centauri and its feet are the bright stars of Musca. The Bakairi people of Brazil had a sprawling constellation representing a bird snare. It included the bright stars of Crux, the southern part of Centaurus, Circinus, at least one star in Lupus, the bright stars of Musca, Beta and Delta Chamaeleonis, Volans, and Mensa. The Kalapalo"
"""Makalii"". The stars of Auriga feature in Inuit constellations. Quturjuuk, meaning ""collar-bones"", was a constellation that included Capella (Alpha Aurigae), Menkalinan (Beta Aurigae), Pollux (Beta Geminorum), and Castor (Alpha Geminorum). Its rising signalled that the constellation Aagjuuk, made up of Altair (Alpha Aquilae), Tarazed (Gamma Aquilae), and sometimes Alshain (Beta Aquilae), would rise soon. Aagjuuk, which represented the dawn following the winter solstice, was an incredibly important constellation in the Inuit mythos. It was also used for navigation and time-keeping at night. Alpha Aurigae (Capella), the brightest star in Auriga, is a G8III class star (G-type giant) 43 light-years away"
"Capella Capella, also designated Alpha Aurigae (α Aurigae, abbreviated Alpha Aur, α Aur), is the brightest point of light in the constellation of Auriga, the sixth-brightest in the night sky, and the third-brightest in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus and Vega. A prominent object in the winter sky of the northern hemisphere, it is circumpolar to observers north of 44°N. Its name meaning ""little goat"" in Latin, Capella depicted the goat Amalthea that suckled Zeus in classical mythology. The Capella system is relatively close, at only from the Sun. Although it appears to be a single star to the"
"γ Aquilae) are separated from respectively their wife and mother Zhinu (represented by Vega) by the Milky Way. They are only permitted to meet once a year, when magpies form a bridge to allow them to cross the Milky Way. The people of Micronesia called Altair ""Mai-lapa"", meaning ""big/old breadfruit"", while the Māori people called this star ""Poutu-te-rangi"", meaning ""pillar of heaven"". In Western astrology, the star Altair was ill-omened, portending danger from reptiles. Japan Airlines's Starjet 777-200 JA8983 was named Altair. Altair Airlines was a regional airline that operated out of Philadelphia from 1966 to 1982. The NASA Constellation"
"and Gamma Arietis formed the head of the porpoise, while stars from Andromeda formed the body and the bright stars of Cassiopeia formed the tail. Other Polynesian peoples recognized Aries as a constellation. The Marquesas islanders called it ""Na-pai-ka""; the Māori constellation ""Pipiri"" may correspond to modern Aries as well. In indigenous Peruvian astronomy, a constellation with most of the same stars as Aries existed. It was called the ""Market Moon"" and the ""Kneeling Terrace"", as a reminder for when to hold the annual harvest festival, Ayri Huay. Aries has three prominent stars forming an asterism, designated Alpha, Beta, and"
"Altair Altair () (from Arabic """"al-ṭā'ir"""") also designated Alpha Aquilae (α Aquilae, abbreviated Alpha Aql, α Aql), is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky. It is currently in the G-cloud—a nearby interstellar cloud, which is an accumulation of gas and dust. Altair is an A-type main sequence star with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.77 and is one of the vertices of the asterism known as the Summer Triangle (the other two vertices are marked by Deneb and Vega). It is 16.7 light-years (5.13 parsecs) from the Sun and"
"the river. At apparent magnitude 2.9, Beta Aquarii is the brightest star in the constellation. Aquarius is identified as ""The Great One"" in the Babylonian star catalogues and represents the god Ea himself, who is commonly depicted holding an overflowing vase. The Babylonian star-figure appears on entitlement stones and cylinder seals from the second millennium. It contained the winter solstice in the Early Bronze Age. In Old Babylonian astronomy, Ea was the ruler of the southernmost quarter of the Sun's path, the ""Way of Ea"", corresponding to the period of 45 days on either side of winter solstice. Aquarius was"
"and Alpha Equulei; it represented a bleak place associated with death and funerals. ""Wei"", the rooftop and 12th lunar mansion, was a V-shaped constellation formed by Alpha Aquarii, Theta Pegasi, and Epsilon Pegasi; it shared its name with two other Chinese constellations, in modern-day Scorpius and Aries. Despite both its prominent position on the zodiac and its large size, Aquarius has no particularly bright stars, its four brightest stars being less than magnitude 2. However, recent research has shown that there are several stars lying within its borders that possess planetary systems. The two brightest stars, Alpha and Beta Aquarii,"
"with the constellation Orion, the Greek myths tell of Maia and her sisters being pursued by the giant huntsman, and turned into doves to preserve their safety. Maia (star) Maia, designated 20 Tauri (abbreviated 20 Tau), is a star in the constellation of Taurus. It is the fourth-brightest star in the Pleiades open star cluster (M45), after Alcyone, Atlas and Electra, in that order. Maia is a blue giant of spectral type B8 III, and a mercury-manganese star. Maia's visual magnitude is 3.871, requiring darker skies to be seen. Its total bolometric luminosity is 660 times solar, mostly in the"
"visual companion stars, WDS 19508+0852B, C, and D. Component B is not physically close to A but merely appears close to it in the sky. Altair Altair () (from Arabic """"al-ṭā'ir"""") also designated Alpha Aquilae (α Aquilae, abbreviated Alpha Aql, α Aql), is the brightest star in the constellation of Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky. It is currently in the G-cloud—a nearby interstellar cloud, which is an accumulation of gas and dust. Altair is an A-type main sequence star with an apparent visual magnitude of 0.77 and is one of the vertices of the asterism"
"fourth century BC and Aratus in the third century BC. It is now one of the 88 constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union. The constellation was also known as ""Vultur volans"" (the flying vulture) to the Romans, not to be confused with ""Vultur cadens"" which was their name for Lyra. It is often held to represent the eagle which held Zeus's/Jupiter's thunderbolts in Greco-Roman mythology. Aquila is also associated with the eagle that kidnapped Ganymede, a son of one of the kings of Troy (associated with Aquarius), to Mount Olympus to serve as cup-bearer to the gods. Ptolemy catalogued"
"especially in the Western- and South-Pacific regions of the globe. In particular, in Chinese myth it is called the ""Cowherd Star"" after the story of the cowherd Niú Láng and his two children (β and γ Aquilae), who are separated from their mother Zhī Nŭ (the star Vega) by the Milky Way. They are only permitted to meet once a year, when the Milky Way is crossed by a bridge of magpies. Altair may be referred to in fictional works for its metaphorical or mythological associations, or else as a bright point of light in the sky of Earth, but"
"Epsilon Aquarii Epsilon Aquarii (ε Aquarii, abbreviated Epsilon Aqr, ε Aqr), also named Albali, is a star in the equatorial zodiac constellation of Aquarius. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 3.77. Based upon parallax measurements taken during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately from the Sun. ""ε Aquarii"" (Latinised to ""Epsilon Aquarii"") is the star's Bayer designation. It bore the traditional name, ""Albali"", from the Arabic البالع (""albāli‘""), meaning ""the swallower"". (See also Albulaan.) Along with Mu Aquarii (Albulaan) and Nu Aquarii (also Albulaan), they were ""al Bulaʽ"" (البلع), meaning ""the Swallower"". In"
"sky as the constellation Delphinus. In Chinese, the asterism consisting of α, β, and γ Aquilae is known as ""Hé Gǔ"" (; lit. ""river drum""). Altair is thus known as ""Hé Gǔ èr"" (; lit. ""river drum two"", meaning the ""second star of the drum at the river""). However, Altair is better known by its other names: ""Qiān Niú Xīng"" () or ""Niú Láng Xīng"" (), translated as the ""cowherd star"". These names are an allusion to a love story, ""The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl"", in which Niulang (represented by Altair) and his two children (represented by β and"
"Aries (constellation) Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It is located in the northern celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. The name Aries is Latin for ram, and its symbol is (Unicode ♈), representing a ram's horns. It is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is a mid-sized constellation, ranking 39th overall size, with an area of 441 square degrees (1.1% of the celestial sphere). Although Aries came to represent specifically the ram whose fleece became"
"Aquarius (constellation) Aquarius is a constellation of the zodiac, situated between Capricornus and Pisces. Its name is Latin for ""water-carrier"" or ""cup-carrier"", and its symbol is , a representation of water. Aquarius is one of the oldest of the recognized constellations along the zodiac (the Sun's apparent path). It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is found in a region often called the Sea due to its profusion of constellations with watery associations such as Cetus the whale, Pisces the fish, and Eridanus"
"Aries was running and looking behind itself. The obsolete constellations introduced in Aries (Musca Borealis, Lilium, Vespa, and Apes) have all been composed of the northern stars. Musca Borealis was created from the stars 33 Arietis, 35 Arietis, 39 Arietis, and 41 Arietis. In 1612, Petrus Plancius introduced Apes, a constellation representing a bee. In 1624, the same stars were used by Jakob Bartsch to create a constellation called Vespa, representing a wasp. In 1679 Augustin Royer used these stars for his constellation Lilium, representing the fleur-de-lis. None of these constellation became widely accepted. Johann Hevelius renamed the constellation ""Musca"""
"Aurigae and its close companion HD 233153 are red dwarfs ten degrees away from Capella; they have very similar space motions but the small difference makes it possible that this is just a coincidence. Two faint stars have been discovered by speckle imaging in the Capella HL field, around 10"" distant from that pair. These have been catalogued as Capella O and P. It is not known whether they are physically associated with the red dwarf binary. Capella traditionally marks the left shoulder of the constellation's eponymous charioteer, or, according to the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy's ""Almagest"", the goat that"
"Auriga stood for a goat-herd or shepherd. It was formed from most of the stars of the modern constellation; all of the bright stars were included except for Elnath, traditionally assigned to both Taurus and Auriga. Later, Bedouin astronomers created constellations that were groups of animals, where each star represented one animal. The stars of Auriga comprised a herd of goats, an association also present in Greek mythology. The association with goats carried into the Greek astronomical tradition, though it later became associated with a charioteer along with the shepherd. In Greek mythology, Auriga is often identified as the mythological"
"ships after bright stars, the ""Altair"" was named after Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the night sky. Conversion began on 28 July 1984 at Avondale Shipyards in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her cargo hold was redesigned into a series of decks connected by ramps so vehicles can be driven into and out of the cargo hold for fast loading and unloading. She was also fitted with two sets of two cranes; one set located at midship capable of lifting 35 tons, and another set located aft capable of lifting 50 tons. She"
"by Zeus. The king of gods fell in love with him and flew down to the mountain in the form of a large bird, whisking Ganymede away to the heavens. Ever since, the boy has served as cupbearer to the gods. Ovid has Orpheus sing the tale. Aquarius is a winter constellation in the northern hemisphere, found near Pisces and Cetus. It is especially notable as the radiant for four meteor showers, the largest of which is the Delta Aquarid meteor shower in late July and early August. Aquarius (astrology) Aquarius (♒) is the eleventh astrological sign in the Zodiac,"
"the 21st century BC, it was explicitly recorded in the Babylonian star catalogues as ""The Goat-Fish"" before 1000 BC. The constellation was a symbol of the god Ea and in the Early Bronze Age marked the winter solstice. In Greek mythology, the constellation is sometimes identified as Amalthea, the goat that suckled the infant Zeus after his mother, Rhea, saved him from being devoured by his father, Cronos. The goat's broken horn was transformed into the cornucopia or horn of plenty. According to some ancient Greek myths, it started with the sea-goat Pricus. he was the father of the race"
"Aquarius. While the astrological sign Pisces per definition runs from elliptical longitude 330° to 0°, this position is now mostly covered by the constellation of Aquarius, due to the precession from when the constellation and the sign coincided. Today, the First Point of Aries, or the vernal equinox, is in the Pisces constellation. There are no prominent stars in the constellation, with the brightest stars being of only fourth magnitude. One star in the constellation, Alpha Piscium, is also known as Alrescha, which comes from the Arabic الرشآء ""al-rišā’"", meaning ""the well rope,"" or ""the cord."" The constellation however is"
"included the northern stars of Delta and Xi Aurigae. In ancient Hindu astronomy, Capella represented the heart of Brahma and was important religiously. Ancient Peruvian peoples saw Capella, called ""Colca"", as a star intimately connected to the affairs of shepherds. In Brazil, the Bororo people incorporate the stars of Auriga into a massive constellation representing a caiman; its southern stars represent the end of the animal's tail. The eastern portion of Taurus is the rest of the tail, while Orion is its body and Lepus is the head. This constellation arose because of the prominence of caymans in daily Amazonian"
"also corresponds to the time of castration of male calves, mules and donkeys, ""Sanguia"" on the vernal equinox and marked the start of spring proper. The First Point of Aries is so called because, when Hipparchus defined it in 130 BCE, it was located in the western extreme of the constellation of Aries, near its border with Pisces and the star γ Arietis. Due to the Sun's eastward movement across the sky throughout the year, this western end of Aries was the point at which the Sun entered the constellation, hence the name ""First Point"" of Aries. Due to Earth's"
"Babylonian MUL.APIN catalog lists Orion, Perseus, Auriga, and Andromeda. Modern astronomers have noted that planets also pass through Crater, Sextans, Cetus, Pegasus, Corvus, Hydra, and Scutum; with Venus very rarely passing through Aquila, Canis Minor, Auriga, and Serpens. Some other constellations are also mythologically associated with the zodiacal ones: Piscis Austrinus, The Southern Fish, is attached to Aquarius. In classical maps, it swallows the stream poured out of Aquarius' pitcher, but perhaps it formerly just swam in it. Aquila, The Eagle, was possibly associated with the zodiac by virtue of its main star, Altair. Hydra in the Early Bronze Age"
"is referred to in this way by Aratos, Homer and Hesiod. The ancient Greeks refer only to one dog, but by Roman times, Canis Minor appears as Orion's second dog. Alternative names include Canis Sequens and Canis Alter. Canis Syrius was the name used in the 1521 ""Alfonsine tables"". The Roman myth refers to Canis Major as ""Custos Europae"", the dog guarding Europa but failing to prevent her abduction by Jupiter in the form of a bull, and as ""Janitor Lethaeus"", ""the watchdog"". In medieval Arab astronomy, the constellation became ""al-Kalb al-Akbar"", ""the Greater Dog"", transcribed as ""Alcheleb Alachbar"" by"
"of Jupiter and orbits every 500 days. Explanatory notes Citations Bibliography Online sources ""SIMBAD"" Aries (constellation) Aries is one of the constellations of the zodiac. It is located in the northern celestial hemisphere between Pisces to the west and Taurus to the east. The name Aries is Latin for ram, and its symbol is (Unicode ♈), representing a ram's horns. It is one of the 48 constellations described by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is a mid-sized constellation, ranking 39th overall size, with an area of 441 square degrees (1.1% of"
"star in Aquarius). Aldebaran marked the vernal equinox and Antares marked the autumnal equinox, while Regulus marked the Summer Solstice and Fomalhaut the Winter Solstice. While watching the sky, the dominant star would appear in its season, each having a time of the year when most noticeable. Regulus was seen as the main star because it was in the constellation of Leo, giving it the power of the lion, signifying the strength of kings with large implications. The constellations of the Royal Stars were said to be fixed because their positions were close to the four fixed points of the"
"ancient origin. Taurus marked the point of vernal (spring) equinox in the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age, from about 4000 BC to 1700 BC, after which it moved into the neighboring constellation Aries. The Pleiades were closest to the Sun at vernal equinox around the 23rd century BC. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was listed in the MUL.APIN as , ""The Bull of Heaven"". As this constellation marked the vernal equinox, it was also the first constellation in the Babylonian zodiac and they described it as ""The Bull in Front"". The Akkadian name was ""Alu"". In the Old Babylonian"