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Aquila
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The constellation Aquila.
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The constellation Aquila.
The constellation Aquila.

Aquila

constellation
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Written by
Erik Gregersen
Erik Gregersen is a senior editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica, specializing in the physical sciences and technology. Before joining Britannica in 2007, he worked at the University of Chicago Press on the...
Erik Gregersen
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Article History
Latin:
“Eagle”
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Aquila, constellation in the northern sky, at about 20 hours right ascension and on the celestial equator in declination. The brightest star in Aquila is Altair (Arabic: “Flying Eagle”), the 12th brightest star in the sky. With the nearby bright stars Deneb and Vega, Altair forms the prominent asterism of the Summer Triangle. Aquila’s representation as an eagle dates back to the Sumerians, who called Altair the eagle star. The ancient Greeks identified Aquila with the eagle that carried Zeus’s thunderbolts. In Chinese mythology Altair is identified with Zhi Nu, a princess who fell in love with a cowherd, Niu Lang (identified with Vega). Zhi Nu’s father punished them by placing them on opposite sides of the Milky Way.

Erik Gregersen