How to find Aquila
When to look
July, August, September, October evenings
Face south, high
Bright Altair with a fainter star close on each side of it, all three in a short straight line. Altair is the Summer Triangle's southern corner. Summer and early autumn evenings, high in the south; low in the south-west by November evenings. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 7 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Aquila has a bright star called Altair. A smaller star sits on each side of it, and all three make a short line.
Aquila means the Eagle. Find Altair, the bottom corner of the Summer Triangle, then the two fainter stars on either side of it, Tarazed and Alshain. Lines of stars spread out from them like wings across the Milky Way.
Altair is about 17 light-years away, one of the closest bright stars. It spins around once in about nine hours, where the Sun takes about a month, so fast that it is squashed: wider around its middle than from pole to pole.
The stars in it
Altair, Tarazed, Alshain, Delta, Zeta, Lambda, Theta. The brightest is Altair.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face south, high and look for: bright Altair with a fainter star close on each side of it, all three in a short straight line. Altair is the Summer Triangle's southern corner.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”