Aquarius constellation is located in the southern hemisphere. It is one of the 12 zodiac constellations. The constellation’s name means “the water-bearer” (or “cup-bearer”) in Latin and its symbol is , which represents water.
Aquarius lies in the region of the sky which is sometimes referred to as the Sea, because it contains a number of other constellations with names associated with water; Pisces (the fish), Eridanus (the river), and Cetus (the whale), among others. Like other zodiac constellations, Aquarius was catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
Aquarius contains the famous supergiant star Sadalsuud (Beta Aquarii) and a number of notable deep sky objects: the globular clusters Messier 2 and Messier 72, the asterism Messier 73, the Aquarius Dwarf Galaxy, Atoms for Peace Galaxy (NGC 7252) and two well-known nebulae: the Saturn Nebula and the Helix Nebula.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Aquarius is the 10th largest constellation in the sky, occupying an area of 980 square degrees.
It is located in the fourth quadrant of the southern hemisphere (SQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +65° and -90°. The neighboring constellations are Aquila, Capricornus, Cetus, Delphinus, Equuleus, Pegasus, Pisces, Piscis Austrinus, and Sculptor.
Aquarius contains two stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 and seven stars that are located within 10 parsecs (32.6 light years) of Earth. The brightest star in the constellation is Beta Aquarii, also known as Sadalsuud, with an apparent magnitude of 2.87. The nearest star is EZ Aquarii, a triple star system composed of three M-type dwarfs, located at a distance of 11.27 light years from Earth.
Aquarius has a considerable number of stars with known exoplanets. These are Psi-1 Aquarii (91 Aquarii, spectral class K0III), HD 210277 (G0V), HD 212771 (G8IV), HD 222582 (G5), HD 220689 (G3V), HD 215152 (K0, two planets), HD 206610 (K0III), WASP-69 (K5), WASP-70 A (G4), WASP-75 (F9), Gliese 849 (M3.5, two planets), Gliese 876 (M3.5V, four planets), WASP-47 (G9V, four planets), and WASP-6 (G8).
Aquarius belongs to the Zodiac family of constellations, along with Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Pisces. Aquarius contains three Messier objects: Messier 2 (NGC 7089), Messier 72 (NGC 6981), and Messier 73 (NGC 6994). There are four meteor showers associated with the constellation: the March Aquariids, Eta Aquariids, Delta Aquariids, and Iota Aquariids.
MYTH
Aquarius is depicted as a young man pouring water (or alternatively, nectar) from an amphora into the mouth of the Southern Fish, represented by the constellation Piscis Austrinus.
Aquarius is usually associated with Ganymede, the son of King Tros, in Greek mythology. Ganymede was a beautiful Trojan youth who caught Zeus’ eye, which prompted the god to disguise himself as an eagle (represented by the constellation Aquila) and carry him off to Olympus to serve as cup-bearer to the gods. In a different story, the constellation represents Deucalion, son of Prometheus, who survived the great flood along with his wife Pyrrha.
In Babylonian mythology, Aquarius is identified as GU.LA (the great one), the god Ea himself and, in Egyptian tales, the constellation was said to represent the god of the Nile.
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