Constellation, Eagle
Aquila
The eagle that carried the thunderbolts of Zeus. Its bright star Altair is one of the three corners of the Summer Triangle.
From New York on October 13, 2026, the centre of Aquila rises at 12:59 PM, is highest at 7:11 PM (52° above the horizon in the S) and sets at 1:24 AM.
In the 3D sky
The sky over New York turned towards Aquila. Drag to look around.
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Evening visibility over the year
Height of the constellation’s centre above the horizon at 10 pm local time on the 15th of each month, from New York. Above about 30° it is well placed.
Name and history
Aquila is an eagle, the bird of Zeus that carried the thunderbolts he hurled at his enemies. In one Greek story it is the eagle that snatched the Trojan boy Ganymede and took him to Mount Olympus as cup-bearer to the gods. Some writers say Zeus took the eagle’s form himself, others that he sent the bird. Ganymede is often seen in neighbouring Aquarius. In another tale, told by Hyginus, the eagle and the swan Cygnus recall a trick Zeus played on the goddess Nemesis.
Altair comes from the Arabic al-nasr al-tair, the flying eagle or vulture. The Babylonians and Sumerians already called it the eagle star. In a Chinese folk tale Altair is a cowherd, separated by the Milky Way from his wife the weaving girl, the star Vega. Ptolemy set apart a group of stars in the south of Aquila as Antinous. That figure has long been dropped, but in 2024 the IAU gave the name Antinous to the star Theta Aquilae.
Sources: Ian Ridpath, Star Tales: Aquila, IAU Working Group on Star Names (WGSN): Modern IAU star names
Brightest stars
| Star | Designation | Magnitude | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Altair | α Aql | 0.76 | 17 light-years |
| Tarazed | γ Aql | 2.72 | 395 light-years |
| Okab | ζ Aql | 2.99 | 83 light-years |
| Antinous | θ Aql | 3.24 | 286 light-years |
| δ Aql | δ Aql | 3.36 | 51 light-years |
| λ Aql | λ Aql | 3.43 | 124 light-years |
| Alshain | β Aql | 3.71 | 45 light-years |
| η Aql | η Aql | 3.87 | 1,382 light-years |
| ε Aql | ε Aql | 4.02 | 155 light-years |
| 12 Aql | 12 Aql | 4.02 | 144 light-years |
Facts
| Area | about 651 square degrees (22 of 88) |
|---|---|
| IAU abbreviation | Aql |
| Sky | Near the celestial equator, visible from both hemispheres |
| Origin | Listed in Ptolemy’s Almagest, about AD 150, and described by Aratus before him |
| Stars brighter than magnitude 5 | 20 |
| Centre (J2000) | 19.7 h, 3° |
Deep-sky objects
Galaxies, clusters and nebulae brighter than magnitude 9, from the OpenNGC catalogue. Most need binoculars or a telescope and a dark sky.
| Object | Type | Magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| NGC6709 | Open cluster | 6.7 |
| NGC6755 | Open cluster | 7.5 |
Boundaries: International Astronomical Union, via Astronomy Engine. Areas are computed from the boundaries by sampling (within about one percent). Names and lines: Stellarium. Stars: HYG Database. Deep-sky objects: OpenNGC. Calculated with Astronomy Engine, an open-source library verified against the US Naval Observatory and NASA JPL. Data sources
How to use this page
Choose your place and a night at the top. The answer and the 3D view show where the constellation is, when it is highest and whether it rises at all from where you are. The chart shows its stars and lines, and the tables list its brightest stars and the deep-sky objects inside it.
Frequently asked questions
When is a constellation best seen?
When it is highest in a dark sky, which the page gives for the night you pick. Each constellation is best placed in a particular season, because the stars rise about four minutes earlier every night.
Why can I not see a constellation from my place?
Constellations far south of the celestial equator never rise from northern places, and those far north never rise from southern ones. The page says when this is the case.
What are the constellation boundaries?
The International Astronomical Union divides the sky into 88 areas with official boundaries. The stick figures are only a drawing aid, the boundaries say which constellation a point in the sky belongs to.
Related guides
- How to learn the constellationsStart with one bright pattern you cannot miss, use it as a signpost to its neighbours, and come back a month later: the sky will have turned, and you will know a little more of it.
- Altitude and azimuth: finding things in the skyTwo angles tell you exactly where to look: which direction, and how high.
- Light pollution and dark skies: the Bortle scaleFrom a city centre you can count a few dozen stars. From a truly dark site you can count a few thousand, with the Milky Way bright enough to cast a shadow. The Bortle scale puts a number on the difference.
- Binoculars for stargazing: what to buy and what to look atA pair of 7x50 or 10x50 binoculars shows the craters of the Moon, the moons of Jupiter, dozens of star clusters and the Andromeda Galaxy, for a fraction of the cost of a telescope.