Altair (? Aql / ? Aquilae / Alpha Aquilae / Atair) is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila and the twelfth brightest star in the nighttime sky, at visual magnitude 0.77. Names The name "Altaïr" is Arabic for "the Flying", from the phrase . The spelling "Atair" is also used frequently. The name was given by Arabic astronomers and adopted by Western astronomers. It is officially known as ??? (Hég?'èr, the Second Star of the Drum at the River, or more literally, Riverdrum II) in Chinese. However, it is more famous known as its other names: ??? or ??? (the Star of the Cowherd), after the Cowherd in the Chinese mythology: the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Description Altair is a vertex of the Summer Triangle. It is an "A" type or white star located 17 light years away from Earth (about 159 trillion kilometers or 100 trillion miles), one of t

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z # TAGS