Written by Tadashi
Modified & Updated: 12 Sep 2024
Reviewed by Jessica Corbett
Aquarius has instant recognizability to most people thanks to its status as a zodiac constellation. Its association with astrology also shares instant recognizability. That said, there’s more to Aquarius than just a collection of stars and an omen in fortunetelling. Its stars have stories of their own, which vary around the world and across history. People born under Aquarius have also earned places in history! Read all about them with these 50 Aquarius facts.
- Twelve stars traditionally form the constellation Aquarius.
- Astronomers have since discovered that Aquarius actually includes a total of 97 stars.
- Interestingly, 12 of the constellation’s stars also have planets orbiting them.
- Beta Aquarii makes up the brightest star in the constellation, with a magnitude of 2.9.
- Astrologers associate Aquarius with people born between January 21 and February 20.
- The Greek astronomer Ptolemy first documented the modern constellation of Aquarius in the 2nd century B.C.
- Lord Rosse studied and named the Saturn Nebula in Aquarius in the 19th century.
- Karl Harding discovered the Helix Nebula also in Aquarius in 1824.
- Scientists confirmed the three-dimensional positions of the stars in Aquarius in 1947.
- They later discovered an ultra-cool dwarf star in the constellation, TRAPPIST-1, in 2000.
- The Chandra X-Ray Observatory detected its first x-rays from Beta Aquarii in Aquarius in the early 2000s.
- Scientists first detected planets orbiting stars in Aquarius in 2011.
- They also measured TRAPPIST-1 rotational period in 2016.
- NASA confirmed in 2017 the discovery of rocky planets around TRAPPIST-1 in Aquarius.
- As of 2020, scientists still remain unsure if any of TRAPPIST-1’s planets even have atmospheres.
- Aquarius means either “water-carrier” or “cup-carrier” in Latin.
- Astrologers associate Aquarius with the classical element of air.
- They also associate it with the planets Saturn and Uranus.
- Aquarius supposedly weakens the Sun when it passes through Aquarius in the sky.
- Similarly, Neptune supposedly weakens Aquarius when it passes through Aquarius in the sky.
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