Generalities: it is a constellation mastering the celestial equator, but included mostly in the northern hemisphere. It shows a bright star and other stars of average brightness. It is partly crossed by the Milky Way. Its transit at midnight takes place in July. Its main star, Altair, forms with Vega of the Lyre and Deneb of the Swan the famous triangle that dominates the sky in the northern summer.

Origins and mythology: this constellation belongs to the original Ptolemaic constellations. It represents the eagle sent by Zeus to abduct Ganymede, a young shepherd from Frigia, who had been chosen to become  water bearer of the gods, on mount Olympus. The previous and unlucky water bearer, Ebe, had been in fact victim of a fall during a solemn ceremony.

Stars: the Eagle contains Altair, a star of magnitude 0.77, the twelfth star of the whole sky for brightness. Altair is of white color and is 16 light-years far. The Eagle  shows other two stars under  magnitude 3: the orange Tarazed (m=2.72) and the white Dheneb (m=2.99). Moreover there are  other five stars of  magnitude inferior  to 4.
 

Table of stars brighter than magnitude 3.5
 

Star	Proper name	Magnitude	Spectrum	Colour	Distance (light-years)	Notes
Alpha	Altair	0.77	A7	white	16
Gamma	Tarazed	2.72	K3	orange	284
Zeta	Dheneb	2.99	B9	white	105
Theta		3.23	B9	white	200
Delta		3.36	F0	white-yellow	52
Lambda	Althalimain	3.44	B8.5	white	98
Eta		3.7 (variabile)	G0	yellow	1430
Beta	Alshain	3.71	G8	orange	36

Other objects: the Eagle is a constellation of average size, yet it doesn't contain any important objects of the deep sky .

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