Constellation Profile - Aquarius

One of my favourite constellations is Aquarius.  If I believed in astrology it would have special meaning to me as my zodiac symbol.  The zodiac is a region of the celestial sphere approximately 15-20° wide where the Sun transits the sky on what is known as the ecliptic.  This region is further divided longitudinally by 30° creating 12 areas of the sky where the sun will occupy throughout the year.  The constellation the Sun is located on your birthday becomes your zodiac sign.  The constellations in this region are referred to as the zodiacal constellations.  Some consider Ophiuchus to be the thirteenth sign of the zodiac since it encroaches on this region of space.

Aquarius is known as the water carrier.  I sometimes say we Aquarians carry lazy Pisces and Cancer around in our bucket.  It was one of Ptolemy's constellations early in the 1st millennium.  It has strong associations with Pagan mythology being known as the bringer of the Babylonian floods and the famous annual flooding of the Nile to mark the beginning of Spring.

The first time I viewed Neptune I used Aquarius as my guide.  Neptune has occupied this constellation for several years now and is sitting less than 2° from Lambda Aquarii.

A link to my observations of Neptune's Orbital Motion is provided below.

http://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/01/explore-universe-orbital-motion.html

Late in the Summer of 2016 I spent some time mapping the constellation using binoculars and referring to a sky chart.  This is a very useful exercise as it allows you to find your way around the sky and makes manual visual astronomy much easier.  Below an image is provided of my mapping exercise.

Aquarius Observation Record

An artistic impression of the constellation is shown below.

Aquarius (Artist Interpretation)

The great part about constellations is you can draw the asterism in whatever way you like.  As stated previously in this blog, a constellation is a defined region of the celestial sphere with specific borders.  The stars inside those borders form an asterism by essentially connecting the stars with lines.  This is why you may see several images of the same constellation with different lines connecting the stars.  A link to the constellation definition is provided below.

http://simonjastronomy.blogspot.com/2017/01/what-are-constellations.html

Aquarius has a few Messier Objects contained within its borders.  M2 and M72 are both beautiful globular clusters while M73 is an asterism of 4 stars that are not physically connected.  Along with Messier 40 this is one of the odder entries to the Messier Catalogue.

There are a few meteor showers that emanate from Aquarius, the most famous being the Delta and Eta Aquariids.

Whenever it is late in Summer, be sure to check out this constellation!