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Latin Name:
Aquarius |
English Name:
Water Carrier |
Aqr |
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Water Carrier
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Neighboring Constellations:
Aql Cap Cet Del Equ PsA Peg Psc Scl |
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| Culmination at midnight: |
| 26 August |
| Declination range: |
| 25°S ... 3°N |
| Area in the sky: |
| 980°2 |
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| Atlas (2000.0) | | Chart |
| Cambridge Star Atlas | : |
13 |
| Sky Atlas | : |
16, 17, 23 |
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Mythology and History:
The Waterbearer counts to the oldest constellations on the sky. Records
indicate an age of approximately 20000 years. [bk20] Its
name originates from a rain period of the near orient's nations. At the
climax of the rain period, the sun moved through this constellation and
raised together with it. [bk7, bk10, ay30] The Waterbearer
was usually pictured as a manlike figure pouring water out of a jug to water
the land and make it fruitful. He was a powerful being and guardian of the
springs. There is also a relationship to the assyric flood-saga which flowed
into the greek mythology:
Zeus heard that those times were dominated by malice and violence,
avarice and war. Then he himself descended to Earth because he could
not believe that laws of gods would be ignored in this manner.
But he had to convince himself that things were even worse than he
heard of. «The furious goddess of madness», he exclaimed,
«is ruling the World and therefore everybody will receive the
punishment they deserve.»
And then heavy rain started to pound to the surface all over the
world, the wheat was lashed to the ground, rivers streamed over the
landscape and took trees, cattle and people with them. Houses and
temples, even towers vanished under the furious flood.
The flood rose steadily, and soon - it was unbelievable - the sea
surged at the top of the mountains. Most of the people were swallowed
by the water, the others finally starved lonely.
On a twin peak mountain in Phokis on Parnass, a mountain which was
holy to the muse and Apollo, the small ship in which Deukalion and his wife
Pyrrah had rescued themselves, strandet. They both were innocent and
worshipped the gods. Then Zeus mercily split the clouds and blew the rain
with the north-wind away. The sea and the rivers were called back, the
sea had shores again, the waves flattened and a devastated earth, covered
with gray mud remained. Deukalion and Pyrrah were the only ones spared
by the flood. At the altar of Themis, they desperatly seeked advice how
fallen mankind, even how the sunken world could be revived.
Then the oracle uttered a mysterious phrase: «Leave the temple,
cover your head and face, loosen the belt of your clothes and throw the
great mother's bones behind you!»
Deukalion and Pyrrah were confused and stayed there a long time,
because they thought that the oracle demanded from them to offend against
their parents' love by committing an outrageous deed. Then finally Deukalion
understood the meaning of the oracle: The great mother was in fact Earth
and the stones were the bones in Earth's body - and that's what they had
to throw behind them!
Without understanding why, they went out of the temple, covered their
heads and faces, untied their clothes and threw the stones behind them
as ordered by the oracle. The stones immediately started to drop their
strength and hardness, softened and changed shape. As soon as they assumed
their final shape, one could faintly see the human touch. They looked
like unfinished statues.
Those parts of the stones which were earthy, humid, changed to
become the soft, fleshy part of the body. What was hard an solid
turned into bones, was there a vein in the stone it became likewise in
the body. Shortly, through the powers of the almighty gods, the stones
thrown by the man's hand developed manlike features and from the
stones thrown by the woman evolved women again.
Now Earth, which was left dull and lifeless by the flood, started to be
populated by humans, animals and plants again. So Deukalion was the father
of a new mankind, and the constellation of Aquarius reminds that.
Besides Aquarius there are other names like Amphora
(Two-handled ancient Greek or Roman jar) and Diota (Handled jug).
The greek description was Hydrochous and Hydrochoos.
[bk20]
Constellation:
The constellation of Aqarius lies on the ecliptic, southwestern of the large
Pegasus-rectangle. The stars of Aquarius
are not particularly bright and form a shape rather difficult to grasp.
The most obvious part is probably that Y-shaped group of stars with zeta
Aquarii in its centre, which marks the jug itself.
[bk7] In the southeastern corner of the
constellation are three striking groups of stars containing three to four stars
each, which symbolise flowing water to be swallowed by
Piscis Austrinus. The constellation covers
the generous area of 980 square-degrees and spans over three Right Ascension
hours. The center culminates around Midnight, the 26th August.
[bk9, bk15]
Interesting Objects:
- Brightest Stars:
- alpha Aquarii, Sadalmelik (The King's lucky star), Rucbah
- beta Aqr, Sadalsuud (All world's lucky star)
- gamma Aqr, Sadachbia (Lucky star of the tents)
- delta Aqr, Skat/Scheat
- epsilon Aqr, Albali
- zeta Aqr
- theta Aqr, Ancha
- kappa Aqr, Situla
- Open Clusters:
- M 73 (NGC 6994) (little triangle)
- Globular Clusters:
- M 72 (NGC 6981)
- M 2 (NGC 7089)
- NGC 7492
- Planetary Nebulae:
- NGC 7009: Saturn Nebula
- NGC 7293: Helix Nebula
- Galaxies:
- NGC 7171
- NGC 7171
- NGC 7184
- NGC 7218
- NGC 7252
- NGC 7300
- NGC 7302
- NGC 7309
- NGC 7371
- NGC 7377
- NGC 7392
- NGC 7585
- NGC 7600
- NGC 7606
- NGC 7721
| Bibliography |
| [bk20] | | Sternbilder und ihre Mythen von Gerhard Fasching; Zweite, verbesserte Auflage; Springer Verlag Wien, New York; ISBN 3-211-82552-5 (Wien); ISBN 0-387-82552-5 (New York) |
| [bk7] | | Der grosse Kosmos-Himmelsführer von Ian Ridpath und Wil Tirion; Kosmos Verlag; ISBN 3-440-05787-9 |
| [bk10] | | dtv-Atlas zur Astronomie von Joachim Herrmann; Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag; ISBN 3-423-03006-2 |
| [ay30] | | Eye On The Sky: Aquarius by Deborah Byrd; Astronomy 8/93, p.56 |
| [bk9] | | Drehbare Sternkarte SIRIUS von H. Suter-Haug; Hallwag-Verlag, Bern |
| [bk15] | | Hartung's Astronomical Objects for Southern Telescopes by David Malin and David J. Frew; Melbourne University Press 1995; ISBN 0-522-84553-3 |
