AQUARIUS

, in Astronomy, one of the celestial constellations, being the eleventh sign in the zodiac, reckoning from Aries, and is marked by the character , representing part of a stream of water, issuing from the vessel of Aquarius, or the water-pourer. This sign also gives name to the eleventh part of the ecliptic, through which the sun moves in part of the months of January and February.

The poets feign that Aquarius was Ganymede, whom Jupiter ravished under the shape of an eagle, and carried away into Heaven to serve as a cup-bearer, instead of Hebe and Vulcan; whence the name. Others hold, that the sign was thus called, because that when it appears in the horizon, the weather commonly proves rainy.

The stars in the constellation Aquarius, are, in Ptolemy's Catalogue, 45; in Tycho's 41; in Hevelius's 47; and in Flamsteed's 108. See the article CONSTELLATION; also Catalogue.