Aquila constellation
Latin Aquila, genitive Aquilae, abbreviation Aql
North up, east to the left, as you see the sky. The lines are a common figure; the stars are from the catalogue.
The myth
The eagle of Zeus, which carried his thunderbolts and brought the beautiful Ganymede to Olympus. Its brightest star, Altair, forms the Summer Triangle with Vega and Deneb, which stays in the evening sky well into autumn. Altair spins so fast that it is visibly flattened.
When can Aquila be seen?
It stands highest around 10 pm in August. It can be seen from everywhere north of 75°S.
The brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Colour |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altair | α Aql | 0.77 | white |
| Tarazed | γ Aql | 2.72 | reddish |
| Okab | ζ Aql | 2.99 | white |
| – | θ Aql | 3.23 | bluish |
| Almizan | δ Aql | 3.36 | yellowish white |
| Al Thalimain Prior | λ Aql | 3.44 | bluish |
| Alshain | β Aql | 3.71 | yellow |
| Tarazed | η Aql | 3.90 | yellow |
The smaller the number, the brighter: below 1 are the brightest stars of the sky, 4 is hard to see under a city sky. Greek letters after Johann Bayer (1603).