
Abbreviation: Aqr
English Name: The Water Bearer
Genitive: Sadalmelik
Hemisphere: Northern / Southern Hemisphere (Underlined means the more area in square feet in the Southern Hemisphere.)
Location: Between the constellations of Pisces and Capricorn.
Visible between latitudes: +65 and -90 degrees
Best season: Autumn
Seen in three seasons: Summer, Autumn and Winter
Best seen in: October
Seen between: September and November
Right Ascension (RA): 23 hour
Declination (DEC): -15 degrees
Area (square degrees): 980 (10th)
Aquarius (The Water Bearer)
- A constellation of the zodiac (ecliptic), the Sun passing through it from 16th February to 11th March every year.
- The well-known constellation represents a figure pouring water from a jar.
- There are two important planetary nebulae; The Saturn Nebula and The Helix Nebula, also contains two globular clusters; Messier 2 and Messier 72.
Messier Objects
- M – a globular cluster, just too faint to be seen with the naked-eye in dark conditions, but easy to see with binoculars or a small telescope.
- M72 – Satellite galaxy of The Andromeda Galaxy(Elliptical Galaxy).
Other objects in Aquarius
- 119x objects: New General Catalogue (NGC)
- 65x objects: Index Catalogue (IC)
- 1x objects: Collinder Catalog (Cr)
Features of Interest
- NGC7009 – The Saturn Nebula; a planetary Nebula – when seen through a telescope with an aperture of 200mm/8-inch or more, it appears to have an external body part that resembles the rings of Saturn.
- NGC7293 – The Helix Nebula; possibly the closest planetary nebula to Earth – only 300 light years away.
Brightest Objects in Aquarius
Named Stars
- Sadalmelik (Alpha Aqr)
- Sadalsuud (Beta Aqr)
- Sadalachbia (Gamma Aqr)
- Skat (Delta Aqr)
- Albali (Epsilon Aqr)
- Ancha (Theta Aqr)
- Situla (Kappa Aqr)
Others
- Photo of the constellation Aquarius, as it appears to the naked-eye (Lines have been added for clarity.)
- Sky Chart – Aquarius
- List of stars in Aquarius.
Back to The 88 Constellations Lists page.