Aquarius, the Water-bearer, is represented as a young man pouring water into the mouth of the Southern Fish, Piscis Austrinus. He is said to be Ganymede, a beautiful youth who was carried away by Zeus in the form of an eagle to become the cup-bearer of the gods on Mount Olympus. The eagle then became the constellation Aquila. As Ganymede dispensed nectar to the gods, the liquid is sometimes said to be water and nectar; as the ancient Greeks mixed their wine with water, presumably the gods diluted their nectar in a similar way. Sadly, Aquarius is a large and faint constellation, the three brightest stars are third magnitude and the rest are fourth magnitude, which is difficult to make out in Havering. The asterism of four stars called the Water-jar (or Mercedes-Benz after its logo) is easier to observe, at least in binoculars. The brightest stars in Aquarius, Sadalsuud (Beta Aquarii) and Sadalmelik (Alpha Aquarii) are yellow supergiants—they are both five times more massive than the Sun. The names are said to be Luck of Lucks and Luck of the King in Arabic.

Aquarius contains a notable globular cluster, Messier 2 [1], discovered by the French astronomer Jean-Dominique Maraldi in 1746. It is magnitude 6.5, 12.5 billion years ago and a massive 50,000 light years distant. It lies between Sadalsuud and Enif in Pegasus. However, Aquarius is better-known for its two planetary nebulae. The Saturn Nebula [2] (Caldwell 55 or NGC 7009), so-called by the Earl of Rosse because of its resemblance to the planet Saturn with edge-on rings due to its prominent ansae (handles), is a magnitude 8 yellow-green blob in small telescopes. It is one degree west of Nu Aquarii (mag. 4.5).

Two degrees below the Saturn Nebula is Messier 73, once thought to be a star cluster, but now known to be an asterism, which looks like the more famous Stargate asterism in Virgo. Three degrees south-west-south of the Saturn Nebula is Messier 72, a dim globular cluster which is 55,000 light years away from us and 9.5 billion years old. The other planetary nebula, the Helix Nebula [3] (Caldwell 63 or NGC 7293), is a striking sight in huge telescopes and has been called the Eye of God or the Eye of Sauron because of its appearance. In small telescopes; however, it is just a faint smudge somewhat smaller than the full Moon, although it is relatively bright at magnitude 7.6. It is one of the closest planetary nebulae to us as it is only 650 light years away. Being in a sparse area of the sky, it can be difficult to find.

There are three good doubles in Aquarius. The easiest (and best) is 94 Aquarii [4] [see w/c 23 Oct 2023] which is a moderately separated (12.1 arcseconds) pair which are magnitude 5.3 and 7.0. They are G type and K type stars and I see them as yellow-white and blue. 41 Aquarii [5] is a similar but tighter (5.2 arcseconds) pair, which are magnitude 5.6 and 6.7. They are K and F type stars and they are yellow and blue. Zeta Aquarii is a much tighter pair (2.4 arcseconds), but benefit from being of a similar magnitude (4.3 and 4.5). They are both F type stars and they are both yellow-white. 

In the autumn and early winter of 2024, the planet Saturn will be passing Aquarius. In November, it will be near the star Lambda Aquarii (mag. 3.7).

The constellation Piscis Austrinus is of Babylonian origin, but it was adopted by the ancient Greeks. It has one very bright star, Fomalhaut (mag. 1.2), and three fourth magnitude stars. For that reason, I have drawn it differently from most star charts, but it does look like a small fish trying to reach the water dispensed to it by Aquarius. It used to be called Piscis Australis, but this name has dropped out of use. Fomalhaut (Alpha Piscis Austrini) at declination 29.5 degrees south is the most southernly bright star we can see in Havering and you will need a good view of the southern horizon. As a young star (440 million years old), it has been found to have a remarkable protoplanetary disc, with several planets forming within in, creating gaps. It is also very close to us, being only 25 light years distant.

Whereas Piscis Austrinus has a bright star, but no deep-sky objects, the neighbouring southern constellation of Sculptor has no bright stars, but one notable deep-sky object. Sculptor was one of these rather pointless constellations created by the Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille during his trip to the Cape of Good Hope in the early 1750s. He originally called it the Sculptor’s Studio, which was dominated by a table with a bust on it, but it was shortened to Sculptor by John Herschel (who went to the Cape of Good Hope himself) in 1844 and so it has remained. In many respects it is similar to Sagittarius for UK observers, being around the same declination, but for some reason it has never been considered a UK constellation (perhaps because it is not in the Zodiac). Fortunately, its major claim to fame, the Sculptor Galaxy [6] (Caldwell 65 or NGC 253), also known as the Silver Dollar Galaxy, lies in the very north of the constellation, at a declination of 25 degrees south. It lies seven degrees below Diphda (mag. 2.0) in Cetus.

The Sculptor Galaxy has been described as being almost as easy to observe as the Andromeda Galaxy, although its magnitude is only 8 compared with the Andromeda Galaxy’s 3.4. However, it is much smaller so its surface brightness is about the same. In a better location (i.e. southern USA or southern Portugal), it may well be an impressive sight in binoculars, but thanks to its low altitude one will inevitably struggle in Havering to get a good view. Nonetheless give it a try in late October or early November when it is at its maximum height of about 13 degrees (by contrast the maximum height of Messier 41 in Canis Major is about 17.5 degrees). Two degrees south-south-west of the Sculptor Galaxy is the globular cluster NGC 288, which is dim (mag. 8.1) and unconcentrated, which may be observed in telescopes. Like many globular clusters, it is both very old (13.5 billion years) and distant (29,000 light years). There is an easy double which is on the edge of observability in Havering, namely Phi Sculptoris [7]. It is two fairly equal (mag. 6.8 and 7.4) stars with a moderate separation (6.5 arcseconds) which lies at declination 27 degrees south. They are A type and F type stars and have been described as being pale yellow.