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Aquarius (constellation)
Encyclopedia
Aquarius is a constellation
of the zodiac
, situated between Capricornus
and Pisces
. Its name is Latin
for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", 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
the river
.
: the globular clusters Messier 2
, Messier 72
, and the open cluster Messier 73
. Two well-known planetary nebula
e are located in Aquarius: the Saturn Nebula
(NGC 7009), to the southwest of η Aquarii
; and the famous Helix Nebula
(NGC 7293), southwest of δ Aquarii.
In illustrations, the brightest stars of Aquarius are represented as the figure of a man, while the fainter naked eye
stars are represented as a vessel from which is pouring a stream of water. The water flows southwards into the mouth of the southern fish, Piscis Austrinus
.
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.
In the Greek tradition, the constellation became represented as simply a single vase from which a stream poured down to Piscis Austrinus
. The name in the Hindu zodiac is likewise kumbha "water-pitcher", showing that the zodiac reached India via Greek intermediaries.
Aquarius is sometimes identified with Ganymede
, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology
with whom Zeus
fell in love and, in the disguise of an eagle
(represented by the constellation Aquila
) carried off to Olympus to be cup-bearer to the gods.
, the stars of the constellation Aquarius are part of the The Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ).
, was a United States Navy
ship named after the constellation.
, from February 15 to March 14.
Constellation
In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....
of the zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
, situated between Capricornus
Capricornus
Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac; it is often called Capricorn, especially when referring to the corresponding astrological sign. Its name is Latin for "horned male goat" or "goat horn", and it is commonly represented in the form of a sea-goat: a mythical creature that is half...
and Pisces
Pisces (constellation)
Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east...
. Its name is Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "water-bearer" or "cup-bearer", and its symbol is
, a representation of water.Aquarius is one of the oldest of the recognized constellations along the zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
(the sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
's apparent path). It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy
Ptolemy
Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...
, and it remains one of the 88 modern constellations. It is found in a region often called the Sea
Sea (astronomy)
The Sea or the Water is an area of the sky in which many water-related, and few land-related, constellations occur. This may be because the Sun passed through this part of the sky during the rainy season....
due to its profusion of constellations with watery associations such as Cetus
Cetus
Cetus is a constellation. Its name refers to Cetus, a sea monster in Greek mythology, although it is often called 'the whale' today. Cetus is located in the region of the sky that contains other water-related constellations such as Aquarius, Pisces, and Eridanus.-Ecliptic:Although Cetus is not...
the whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
, Pisces
Pisces (constellation)
Pisces is a constellation of the zodiac. Its name is the Latin plural for fish, and its symbol is . It lies between Aquarius to the west and Aries to the east...
the fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and Eridanus
Eridanus (constellation)
Eridanus is a constellation. It is represented as a river; its name is the Ancient Greek name for the Po River. 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 the sixth largest of the modern...
the river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
.
Notable features
]Planetary systems
- Gliese 876Gliese 876Gliese 876 is a red dwarf star approximately 15 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. As of 2011, it has been confirmed that four extrasolar planets orbit the star...
was the first red dwarfRed dwarfAccording to the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, a red dwarf star is a small and relatively cool star, of the main sequence, either late K or M spectral type....
star to be found to possess a planetary systemPlanetary systemA planetary system consists of the various non-stellar objects orbiting a star such as planets, dwarf planets , asteroids, meteoroids, comets, and cosmic dust...
. It is orbited by four planets, including one terrestrial planetTerrestrial planetA terrestrial planet, telluric planet or rocky planet is a planet that is composed primarily of silicate rocks or metals. Within the Solar System, the terrestrial planets are the inner planets closest to the Sun...
6.6 times the mass of Earth. - The orange giant star 91 Aquarii is orbited by a planet, 91 Aquarii b91 Aquarii b91 Aquarii b, also known as HD 219449 b, is an extrasolar planet orbiting in the 91 Aquarii system approximately 148 light-years away in the constellation of Aquarius. It orbits at the average distance of 48.5 Gm from its star, which is closer than Mercury is to the Sun...
. The planet's mass is 2.9 times JupiterJupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
and the semimajor axis of its orbit is 0.3 AU. - Gliese 849Gliese 849|- style="background-color: #A0B0FF;" colspan="3"| Planet|- bgcolor="#FFFAFA"| Gliese 849b || Gliese 849 is a red dwarf star approximately 29 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius.-Planetary system:...
is orbited by the first known long-period Jupiter-like planet, Gliese 849 bGliese 849 bGliese 849 b is an extrasolar planet approximately 29 light years away in the constellation of Aquarius. It is the first long-period Jupiter-like planet discovered around a red dwarf star, announced in August 2006 by the California and Carnegie Planet Search team using the radial velocity technique...
. The planet's mass is 0.82 times that of Jupiter and the semimajor axis of its orbit is 2.35 AU.
Deep sky objects
Aquarius contains three deep sky objects that are in the Messier catalogMessier object
The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets...
: the globular clusters Messier 2
Messier 2
Messier 2 or M2 is a globular cluster in the constellation Aquarius, five degrees north of the star Beta Aquarii...
, Messier 72
Messier 72
Messier 72 is a globular cluster in the Aquarius constellation discovered by Pierre Méchain on August 29, 1780. Charles Messier looked for it on the following October 4 and 5, and included it in his catalog...
, and the open cluster Messier 73
Messier 73
Messier 73 is an asterism of four stars in the constellation of Aquarius. An asterism is composed of physically unconnected stars that appear close to each other in the sky as seen from Earth...
. Two well-known planetary nebula
Planetary nebula
A planetary nebula is an emission nebula consisting of an expanding glowing shell of ionized gas ejected during the asymptotic giant branch phase of certain types of stars late in their life...
e are located in Aquarius: the Saturn Nebula
Saturn Nebula
The Saturn Nebula is a planetary nebula in the constellation Aquarius. It was discovered by William Herschel on September 7, 1782, using a telescope of his own design in the garden at his home in Datchet, England, and was one of his earliest discoveries in his sky survey...
(NGC 7009), to the southwest of η Aquarii
Eta Aquarii
Eta Aquarii is a star in the constellation Aquarius. This star sometimes called with the name Hydria, from the Greek word ‘υδρια , meaning "water jar"...
; and the famous Helix Nebula
Helix Nebula
The Helix Nebula is a large planetary nebula located in the constellation Aquarius. Discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, probably before 1824, this object is one of the closest to the Earth of all the bright planetary nebulae. The estimated distance is about 215 parsecs or 700 light-years...
(NGC 7293), southwest of δ Aquarii.
Illustrations
Naked eye
The naked eye is a figure of speech referring to human visual perception unaided by a magnifying or light-collecting optical device, such as a telescope or microscope. Vision corrected to normal acuity using corrective lenses is considered "naked"...
stars are represented as a vessel from which is pouring a stream of water. The water flows southwards into the mouth of the southern fish, Piscis Austrinus
Piscis Austrinus
Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish" in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fishes. Prior to the 20th century, it was also known as Piscis Notius...
.
Mythology
Aquarius is identified as "The Great One" in the Babylonian star cataloguesBabylonian star catalogues
Babylonian astronomy collated earlier observations and divinations into sets of Babylonian star catalogues, during and after the Kassite rule over Babylonia. These star catalogues, written in cuneiform script, contained lists of constellations, individual stars, and planets...
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
Winter solstice
Winter solstice may refer to:* Winter solstice, astronomical event* Winter Solstice , former band* Winter Solstice: North , seasonal songs* Winter Solstice , 2005 American film...
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.
In the Greek tradition, the constellation became represented as simply a single vase from which a stream poured down to Piscis Austrinus
Piscis Austrinus
Piscis Austrinus is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. The name is Latin for "the southern fish" in contrast with the larger constellation Pisces, which represents a pair of fishes. Prior to the 20th century, it was also known as Piscis Notius...
. The name in the Hindu zodiac is likewise kumbha "water-pitcher", showing that the zodiac reached India via Greek intermediaries.
Aquarius is sometimes identified with Ganymede
Ganymede (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Ganymede is a divine hero whose homeland was Troy. Homer describes Ganymede as the most beautiful of mortals. In the best-known myth, he is abducted by Zeus, in the form of an eagle, to serve as cup-bearer in Olympus. Some interpretations of the myth treat it as an allegory of...
, a beautiful youth in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
with whom Zeus
Zeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
fell in love and, in the disguise of an eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
(represented by the constellation Aquila
Aquila (constellation)
Aquila is a stellar constellation. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it is commonly represented as such. In mythology, Aquila was owned by the Roman god Jupiter and performed many tasks for him....
) carried off to Olympus to be cup-bearer to the gods.
Equivalents
In Chinese astronomyChinese astronomy
Astronomy in China has a very long history, with historians considering that "they [the Chinese] were the most persistent and accurate observers of celestial phenomena anywhere in the world before the Arabs."...
, the stars of the constellation Aquarius are part of the The Black Tortoise of the North (北方玄武, Běi Fāng Xuán Wǔ).
Namesakes
USS Aquarius (AKA-16)USS Aquarius (AKA-16)
USS Aquarius was an in the service of the United States Navy. She was named after the constellation Aquarius. She was one of a handful of World War II AKAs manned by officers and crew from the United States Coast Guard...
, was a United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
ship named after the constellation.
Astrology
, the Sun appears in the constellation Aquarius from February 16 to March 11. In tropical astrology, the Sun is considered to be in the sign Aquarius from January 21 to February 19, and in sidereal astrologySidereal astrology
Sidereal and tropical are astronomical terms used to describe two different definitions of a "year". They are also used as terms for two systems of ecliptic coordinates used in astrology....
, from February 15 to March 14.