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Abby Dunyon

Elementary Astronomy

Professor Harrison

10 April 2017

Constellation report

Aquarius

Mythology

Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the zodiac. Aquarius has been associated with more

than one mythical figure. It is most often identified with Ganymede (Lewis). Ganymede is often

called the cup bearer of the gods, or also known as the water bearer. A beautiful young man

who, after being abducted by an eagle sent by Zeus, served as Zeuss cupbearer (Lewis). It was

said that he was then transformed into a constellation.

Aquarius has more than one mythical being or figure. Cecrops is another mythical figure

sometimes associated with Aquarius (Lewis). He was also said to have taught the people how to

write. Mostly he was a hero and a ruler. Cecrops, half human and half serpent, was a culture

hero who, as king of Attica, put an end to human sacrifice (by offering cakes instead of flesh to

the gods) and founded a court (Lewis).

Aquarius is a zodiac so people under this sign are said to have certain traits or behaviors.

However, Aquarians tend to be eccentric individuals who enjoy working with other people

(Lewis). People ender this sign are said to be reformers a little rebellious. They also pursue

intelligence. While Aquarians are known for being open-minded, they are also unusually
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argumentative (Lewis). The sign is also for its emotional distance. They tend to avoid

emotions by intellectualizing them (Lewis). There is a wealth of information available on the

characteristics of the zodiacal signsso much that one book would not be able to contain it all

(Lewis).

Facts

Aquarius is one of the oldest and well know constellations because it is a zodiac.

Although Aquarius is a faint constellation with relatively dim stars, it can be seen in both the

Northern and Southern Hemispheres at different times of the year (Keenan). Aquarius is one of

the biggest constellation. Aquarius is the tenth largest of the constellations and covers about 980

square degrees of sky (Keenan). Its big but the whole constellation is very dim and so it is hard

to see. Aquarius is filled with a variety of fixed stars, but they are low-magnification objects

located hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth, making them appear quite dim

(Keenan).The best time to see this constellation in the fall when it is in the north and in the

south part you can see it in the spring.

Aquarius has a few global clusters, it was also home to Globular cluster Messier 2 (M2),

one of the oldest objects in the Milky Way galaxy, is located in Aquarius. M2 is about thirty-

eight thousand light-years from Earth but is so densely packed with expired stars that it can be

seen with binoculars under the right circumstances (Keenan).

There is also a couple of well-known planetary nebulas in Aquarius. They are large like

gas giants but they are remains of stars much like our sun. The Saturn Nebula, one of the

brightest planetary nebulas familiarized by its Saturn-like ring, and the Helix Nebula, which is
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one of the closest planetary nebulas to Earth, both reside in Aquarius (Keenan). These nebulas

are all in Aquarius.

One of the important stars in Aquarius is Gliese 876. It is a small red star it is an

M dwarf a very common kind of star. Research indicates that despite Gliese 876s relatively

small size (about onethird the size of the sun), it is orbited by at least four planets (Keenan).

Two of the planets are gas giants a lot like Jupiter. The first is about twice the size of Jupiter,

while the second is about half of Jupiters size (Keenan). According to Keenan the planets

around Gliese 876 takes thirty and sixty days to orbit.

Object #1

The first object that I wanted to talk about, that I briefly mentioned is the global cluster

Messier 2 (M2). Messier 2 (M2) is a globular cluster located at an approximate distance of

37,500 light years from earth (Sandage). Its very far away. According to this report it is one of

the largest objects in our night sky. Spanning about 175 light years in diameter (Sandage). M2

is also close to the bright star Beta Aqurii.

M2 is also one of the older cluster as well The clusters estimated age is 13 billion years

(Sandage), the universe is estimated to be 13.8 billion years old, which means that the cluster

likely formed when the universe was only 6 percent of its current age(Sandage). Sandage says

the cluster orbits in the halo of the Milky Way that is by some of the oldest known stars. M2 is

much older than our sun. In the cluster is has heavier elements than Hydrogen and helium, so it is

highly unlikely that there is an Earth like planet in the cluster.

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M2 is very dense as well Messier 2 is dense and compact, containing approximately

150,000 stars within diameter of 150 light years (Sandage). In the report it says the cluster has

one of the densest core.

The brightest star in M2 magnitude 13.1 and mostly yellow and red giants. The clusters

over all spectral class is F4 (Sandage). Messier 2 is home to 21 variable stars. These are mostly

RR Lyrae variables, pulsating variable stars belong to the spectral class A (or F) (Sandage).

Messier 2 in an old, big and dense global cluster, and it is located in Aquarius.

Object #2

The second object in Aquarius that I want to talk about is the Saturn Nebula. The Saturn

Nebula (also known as NGC 7009) is a planetary nebula of roughly 0.6 light-year across, located

somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000 light-year from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius

(Anne), I wanted to talk about this object because it has rings around it like Saturn, which is what

it is named after.

First lets talk about Planetary nebulae Planetary Nebulae represents the final brief life

in the life of a medium-sized star like our sun. While consuming the last of the fuel in its core,

the dying star expels a large portion of its outer envelope (Anne). Which makes the nebula look

like it has rings.

The Saturn Nebula will disperse and fade into space as a white dwarf, cool off and fade

away. The sun will undergo similarly but not for 5 billion years, fortunately.

The Saturn Nebula is very complex, including a halo, jet-like streams, multiple shells,

ansae, and small-scale filaments and knots (Anne). At the core of this is the once was sun- like

star, and it is surrounded by the stars lost envelope, structured by the stars hot wind. The central
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star, a very hot bluish white dwarf with temperature of 55,000 K, has the luminosity of about 20

suns (Anne). It is very bright, but not to us because Aquarius is so far away it appears very dim.

The Saturn Nebula will continue to expel it core until it is nothing left. Then it will be a

white dwarf cool off and then fade from existence, but it still is very beautiful to look at even

though the star is dying.

Brightest star

According to Wikipedia the two brightest stars in Aquarius are Alpha and Beta Aqurii.

Are luminous yellow supergiants, of spectral types G0Ib and G2Ib respectively, that were once

hot blue-white B-class main sequence stars 5 to 9 times as massive as the Sun (Wikipedia). They

are very big and very bright.

Conclusion

In conclusion this report I have been talking about the constellation Aquarius. I have

talked about the mythology of the water bearer, discussed the facts, focused in on two of its

objects. Messier 2 a very large and old global cluster, and the Saturn Nebula the dying star. I

have also shown the two most luminous stars in the constellation. Aquarius is one of the zodiac

but is also a constellation filled with planets and stars and it is beautiful.
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Work Cited

Lewis, James R. "Aquarius." Astrology Book (2003): 30. MAS Complete. Web. 6 Feb. 2017.

Keenan, Marie. AQUARIUS. Space science/ Astronomy: Constellation, Sept. 2014, p.1.

EBSCOhost, libprox.slcc.edu/login?url=://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?

direct=true&db=sch&AN=110805192&site=eds-live.

Sandage, Allen. Messier Objects. Messier catalogue. Web. 17 Jan 2015.

Anne. Annes Astronomy News. The Saturn Nebula, a planetary nebula in Aquarius. Web. 17

Apr 2017

Wikipedia, Aquarius-constellation. Web. 10 April 2017