Aquila (original) (raw)

Aquila, which occupies most of the center of the picture, is best marked by bright (first magnitude) Altair at upper center, the star flanked by two outliers (Alshain, to the left, and Tarazed right), which together give the sense of the flying Eagle. (North is toward the upper right.) The three stars are actually depicted as marking the Eagle's back and neck. A straight line passed through the three stars down and left points to Theta Aquilae. Eta Aquilae is to the right and a bit down from Theta; Delta is the second modestly bright star below Tarazed, whereas Sigma is directly below Altair. Eta is down and to the right of Theta, then Iota is the second star down and right of Eta (Nu to the right of Iota). Lambda is at the lower center edge. The Eagle's tail is indicated by the two stars at toward the upper right that together are called Deneb al Okab (Zeta left, Epsilon right). Look just up and to the left of Tarazed to find Omicron Aql. 31 Aquilae lies not quite halfway between Tarzed and Deneb al Okab Aus., while FF Aquilae is just up and to the right of Deneb al Okab Bor. Chi Aquilae is the brighter of the two stars that lie on the line from Altair through Tarazed. Serpens(Serpens Cauda) ends at Alya, the bright star down and to the right of Delta; 4 Aquilae is down a a bit to the right of it. In the opposite direction, 71 Aql is the brightest of the three stars near the upper left corner. 1 Aquarii is just above and to the right of it. Kappa is the brighter of the two stars down and to the left of Iota while U Aquilae is the lower of the two down and to the right of Kappa. Pi Aql is the upper of the faint close pair above Tarazed,

Altair lies at the southern apex of the Summer Triangle. In December of 1999, the constellation was graced by a naked eye nova.