Aquila is an ancient constellation, representing the eagle that holds the thunderbolts of Jupiter (or Zeus). The Emperor Hadrian removed part of Aquila in 132AD to create a constellation which honoured his close friend, Antonius, who had just died. It lay to the south-east of Aquila and included Alshain and Theta Aquilae, but was suppressed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1922.

Aquila is dominated by the trio of bright stars: Alshain, Altair and Tarazed. However, it lacks any Messier or Caldwell objects, despite the Milky Way running just to the west of the constellation. 

The “Swoosh” is a C-shaped asterism centered on the bright star Lambda Aquila; the lower three stars point to the Wild Duck Cluster (Messier 11) in Scutum.

One of the upper stars in the Swoosh is the notable double star 15 Aquilae [1], which is a wide double with a 5th magnitude golden yellow star and a 7th magnitude turquoise blue star. 

Remarkably, the other two major doubles in Aquila are also yellow and blue. 5 Aquilae [2] is a narrower double which lies to the north-west of the Swoosh, between Aquila and Serpens Cauda. 57 Aquilae [3] is a wide double which lies at the remaining corner of a quadrilateral made by Theta, Delta and Lambda Aquilae.

Eta Aquilae is a yellow supergiant which is a Cepheid variable, discovered by Edward Pigott in 1784. Its magnitude varies between 3.5 and 4.3 in just over 7 days.