[20] A study with the Palomar Testbed Interferometer revealed that Altair is not spherical, but is flattened at the poles due to its high rate of rotation.

[21] Other interferometric studies with multiple telescopes, operating in the infrared, have imaged and confirmed this phenomenon.

It is an abbreviation of the Arabic phrase النسر الطائر Al-Nisr Al-Ṭa'ir, "the flying eagle".

[11] Satellite measurements made in 1999 with the Wide Field Infrared Explorer showed that the brightness of Altair fluctuates slightly, varying by just a few thousandths of a magnitude with several different periods less than 2 hours.

Its light curve can be approximated by adding together a number of sine waves, with periods that range between 0.8 and 1.5 hours.

[20] The angular diameter of Altair was measured interferometrically by R. Hanbury Brown and his co-workers at Narrabri Observatory in the 1960s.

[26] Although Hanbury Brown et al. realized that Altair would be rotationally flattened, they had insufficient data to experimentally observe its oblateness.

Later, using infrared interferometric measurements made by the Palomar Testbed Interferometer in 1999 and 2000, Altair was found to be flattened.

[31] Medieval astrolabes of England and Western Europe depicted Altair and Vega as birds.

[32] The Koori people of Victoria also knew Altair as Bunjil, the wedge-tailed eagle, and β and γ Aquilae are his two wives the black swans.

[39] A group of Japanese scientists sent a radio signal to Altair in 1983 with the hopes of contacting extraterrestrial life.

[40] NASA announced Altair as the name of the Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) on December 13, 2007.