Aquarius is one of the constellations situated on the zodiac and is one of the oldest recognised constellations along the zodiac (Rogers 1998). First recognised by Claudius Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 modern constellations and is visible in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Aquarius identifies as GU LA ‘The Great One’ in the Babylonian star catalogues which represents the god Ea himself. The star figure appears on cylinder seals and entitlement stones from the second millennium. From the early Bronze age, it contained the winter solstice (Thurston 1996). Aquarius associated with the annual flood of the Nile when he put the jar into the river at the beginning of the spring season (Staal 1988).
In Greek mythology, Aquarius was associated with the son of Prometheus, Deucalion who built a ship with his wife Pyrrha to survive the imminent flood and sailed for nine days before washing ashore on Mount Parnassus (Thompson & Thompson 2008).
Often identified with beautiful Ganymede, a young Greek myology and the son of Tros, a Trojan king who was taken to Mount Olympus by Zeus to act as cup-carrier to the gods (Moore 2000)
Aquarius identifies as GU LA ‘The Great One’ in the Babylonian star catalogues which represents the god Ea himself. The star figure appears on cylinder seals and entitlement stones from the second millennium. From the early Bronze age, it contained the winter solstice (Thurston 1996). Aquarius associated with the annual flood of the Nile when he put the jar into the river at the beginning of the spring season (Staal 1988).
In Greek mythology, Aquarius was associated with the son of Prometheus, Deucalion who built a ship with his wife Pyrrha to survive the imminent flood and sailed for nine days before washing ashore on Mount Parnassus (Thompson & Thompson 2008).
Often identified with beautiful Ganymede, a young Greek myology and the son of Tros, a Trojan king who was taken to Mount Olympus by Zeus to act as cup-carrier to the gods (Moore 2000)
Eastern astronomy
Chinese astronomy has water flowing from the jar as the ‘army of Yu-Lin’. Yu-Lin means feathers and forests referring to the light-footed soldiers from the northern reaches of the empire represented by the faint stars in the Chinese constellation. |
Deep sky
Due to the location of Aquarius, the constellation contains mostly galaxies, globular clusters and Planetary Nebula. M2 – Globular cluster M72 – Globular cluster M73 – Asterism (a class of open clusters but they are deemed too far apart so get the name Asterism) NGC 7009 – Saturn Nebula (planetary nebula) NGC 7293 – Helix Nebula (Planetary Nebula) NGC 7727 – Galaxy NGC 7252 galaxy NGC 7252 is of some interest due to the trial of stars from the galaxy and is known as Atoms for Peace. Planetary systems Twelve systems have been found to have exoplanets since 2013. Gliese 876 is one of the nearest stars to earth at 15 Ly and was the first red dwarf to be identified to have a planetary system and is orbited by 4 planets, one of which is terrestrial at 6.6 times mass of Earth. |
Meteor showers
There are three meteor showers in the constellation. The Eta, The Delta, and the Lota Aquariids.
Eta Aquariids – 5-6 May peak. ~35 meteors per hour
Delta Aquariids – 29th July to 6th august peak. ~10 meteors per hour
Lota Aquariids – 6th August peak. ~8 meteors per hour.
There are three meteor showers in the constellation. The Eta, The Delta, and the Lota Aquariids.
Eta Aquariids – 5-6 May peak. ~35 meteors per hour
Delta Aquariids – 29th July to 6th august peak. ~10 meteors per hour
Lota Aquariids – 6th August peak. ~8 meteors per hour.