AQUILA

, the Eagle, or the Vulture as it is sometimes called, is a constellation of the northern hemisphere, usually joined with Antinous. It is one of the 48 old constellations, according to the division of which Hipparchus made his Catalogue of the Fixed Stars, and which are described by Ptolemy. The number of stars in Aquila, and those near it, now in the later-formed constellation Antinous, amount to 15 in Ptolemy's Catalogue, to 19 in Tycho's, to 42 in that of Hevelius, and to 71 in Flamsteed's. But in Aquila alone, Tycho counts only 12 stars, and Hevelius 23; the principal star being Lucida Aquila, and is between the 1st and 2d magnitude. The Greeks, as usual, relate various fables of this constellation, to make the science appear as of their own invention.