[judykott]

Aquila (pronounced /ˈækwɨlə/ Áquila, occasionally /əˈkwɪlə/; genitive Aquilae /ˈækwɨliː/) is a constellation. Its name is Latin for 'eagle' and it is commonly represented as such. It lies roughly at the celestial equator. The alpha star, Altair, is a vertex of the Summer Triangle asterism.

In classical Greek mythology, Aquila was identified as the eagle which carried the thunderbolts of Zeus and was sent by him to carry the shepherd boy Ganymede who he desired, to Mount Olympus; the constellation of Aquarius is sometimes identified with Ganymede.

Aquila, together with other constellations in the Zodiac sign of Sagittarius (specifically, Lyra and Cygnus), may be a significant part of the origin of the myth of the Stymphalian birds, one of The Twelve Labours of Herakles. The constellation could also have originated from the eagle Ethon, the tormentor of Prometheus, and offspring of the monsters Typhon and Echidna.

History


Aquila was one of the 48 constellations described by Ptolemy in Ancient Greece. It is also mentioned by Eudoxus in the 4th century BC and Aratus in the 3rd century BC. It is now one of the 88 constellations defined by the International Astronomical Union.

The constellation was also known as Vultur volans (the flying vulture) to the Romans, not to be confused with Vultur cadens which was the Romans' name for what is now known as Lyra.

Ptolemy catalogued nineteen stars jointly in this constellation and in the now obsolete constellation of Antinous, which was named in the reign of the emperor Hadrian (AD 117–138), but sometimes erroneously attributed to Tycho Brahe, who catalogued twelve stars in Aquila and seven in Antinous. Hevelius determined twenty-three stars in the first, and nineteen in the second.