History and Mythology
This weel-known constellation is found in the part of the region known as the SEA, and many other water-related constellations are found here, including Cetus, Capricornus, Eridanus, Delphinus, Pisces and Pisces Austrinus. The constellation is of a male spilling water from an urn or vase, although it takes a lot of imagination to see this. Sometimes this constellation relates to Zeus puring down the heavens, and sometimes Eridanus is shown as being a source for the urn. Ganymede, a beautiful young shepherd, is also related as the waterbearer when he was abducted by Zeus and forced to be the cupbearer to the gods. Rarely, although occasionally, Crater is shown as being Ganymede's cup. Many of the stars in Aquarius translate into words of good luck, probably because the constellation rising into the sky signified the start of the rainy season, which was very important to the Arabics of the Middle East. Aquarius is also shown in the Chinese and Indian calendars, and the time of Aquarius will be in about 600 years. In our modern Zodiac, the Sun is in Aquarius from February 17 to March 13. Two Meteor showers can be seen in the Aquarius region. The Delta Aquarids, which reach a maximum of 20 meteors per hour around July 28 and The Eta Aquarids, which also reach a maximum of 20 meteors per hour around May 4.
Stars
alpha-Sadalmelik-Arabic for lucky one of the king, this star lies almost exactly in the celestial equator Spectral Type-G2 Ib Magnitude-3.0 Distance945 ly
beta-Sadalsud-Arabic for luckiest of the lucky, this star is a supergiant in the life of a star Spectral Type-G0 Ib Magnitude-2.9 Distance-980 ly
gamma-Sadachbia-Arabic for luckiest star of luckiest things or lucky star of the tents Spectral Type-A0 V Magnitude-3.8 Distance-91 ly
delta-Skat-Arabic derivitive of shin andd dates back to the Arabic translation of Almagest by Ptolemy Spectral Type-A2 III Magnitude-3.3 Distance-98 ly
epsilon-Albali-Arabic for swallower Spectral Type-A1 V Magnitude-3.8 Distance-110 ly
Zeta-part of the asterism known as the Urn because that is what it is supposed to represent in the constellation. This binary star is relatively easy to spot with a small telescope Spectral Types-F2 III F2 IV Magnitudes-4.5 4.3 Distance-140 ly
Eta-also of the Urn Spectral Type-B8 V Magnitude-4.0 Distance-150 ly
Theta-Ancha-Latin for hip Spectral Type-G8 III Magnitude-4.2 Distance-85 ly
Iota-Spectral Type-B8 V Magnitude-4.3 Distance-254 ly
Kappa-Situla-Latin for the Arabic name for the whole constellation, which is well bucket Spectral Type-K2 III Magnitude-5.0 Distance-360 ly
Star Clusters
There are three globular clusters in the constellation of Aquarius. M2 (1764) is of about 7th magnitude and is a nice object for small telescopes to view. It is located a few degrees north of beta Aquarius. M72 is a 10th magnitude globular located southeast of Albali, near the Saturn Nebula. NGC 7492 is a 11th magnitude globular located east of Skat.
Nebulae
NGC 7009, the Saturn Nebula looks like the planet in medium-large to large telescopes. It looks like a fuzzy disk of light in small telescopes and was discovered by William Herschel in 1782. A large telescope is needed to see 12th magnitude central star spotted in this nebula. NGC 7009, the Helix Nebula, is one of the most famous nebula in the sky. It is one of the largest and closest nebula that we know of.
Galaxies
There are five fuzzy galaxies, but they just look like small patches of light in small telescopes. These are NGC 7184, 7606, 7721, 7723 7727