How to tell which Aquarius is in the night sky?

"Autumn quadrangle" is the most striking symbol in the autumn sky. As shown in the left picture above, the autumn quadrangle is a nearly square composed of α and β of Pegasus and γ and α of Andromeda. Pegasus and Andromeda are very important constellations in the autumn sky. Of the four stars that make up the quadrilateral, except γ of Pegasus, the other three stars are all second-class stars, which are very easy to identify. In autumn night, when the flying horse rises to the zenith, this quadrilateral is located in the south near the zenith, and its four sides just indicate the east-west and north-south directions, so it can be used not only to locate the direction, but also to find other constellations.

For example, you can find the North Star by extending four times the distance north along the straight line between γ-Pegasus and α-Andromeda or along the straight line between α-Pegasus and β-Pegasus. In the south of China at low latitude, Polaris is located in the very low sky, which is difficult to find or even invisible. Therefore, it is very practical to find the north star and identify the direction through the autumn quadrangle.

From the connecting line from Beta to Alpha in Pegasus to one and a half times farther south, there is a huge dark star-Aquarius, which is located in the south of Pegasus and the north of Pisces. Along the ecliptic, Pisces is in the east and Capricorn is in the west. Aquarius is an equatorial constellation with the center at 22: 40 right ascension, declination-13 degrees, covering an area of 980 square degrees, and longitude 3 15 degrees to 345 degrees. Aquarius has 1 13 stars brighter than level 6, including 2 stars in level 3 and 13 stars in level 4. It is said that the gods of Olympus often hold grand banquets in Zeus Palace. The beautiful princess Heber, the daughter of Zeus, poured wine for the gods in a vase. After she got married, Zeus wanted to find a suitable person to replace her daughter Herb. So Zeus became an eagle and came to the earth, bringing back the beautiful boy Ganymede instead of his daughter to pour wine for the gods in the palace on Mount Olympus. Aquarius in the starry sky is the bottle used by Herb and Ganymede to pour wine for the gods. In the picture, the α and β stars of Aquarius are the shoulders of young Ganymede, and the shape of "M" is a bottle from which two strands of nectar and jade liquid flow.

Every year from 65438+1October 27th to 65438+March 3rd, the sun is in this constellation, and Aquarius rises and sets with the sun, so Aquarius is invisible in February and March. In April, Aquarius appeared at the low altitude in the east before dawn, and then rose earlier and earlier. It can be seen in the middle of the night in June and almost all night in August. After sunset, Aquarius rises in the east. Then, with the advance of rising time, Aquarius was already high at the zenith when the sun went down in 10. 1 February, Aquarius departs from the west at midnight,1month, and appears at the low altitude in the west after dark, so the visible time is very short.

Aquarius is the zodiac, so the nine planets of the solar system will appear here. From now until 2007, Uranus has been running in Aquarius.