Sagittarius Constellation: The Ultimate Guide

In ancient Egypt, the stars of the constellation Sagittarius drew a boat instead of drawing an archer.

According to stories, this boat belonged to Khentet-Iabet, the personification of the eastern desert.

With the list of the 88 constellations described by Ptolemy, the zodiac constellations of the Egyptians underwent modifications in the records.

In this way, the new constellation Sagittarius replaced the old constellation Boat.

In Greek mythology, the constellation Sagittarius is a centaur. This mythological creature had the body of a horse and the torso of a man.

The story relates Sagittarius to the centaur Chiron, the master archer of Hercules.

On one of his adventures, Hercules drank wine from Centaurs and accidentally injured Chiron.

Zeus had seen everything and knew of the anguish felt by his son Hercules for having wounded his master.

So he decides to give Chiron a resting place in the sky by capturing his image forever with the constellation of Sagittarius.

During the seventeenth and sixteenth centuries, the constellation of Sagittarius was widely used by astronomers and sailors for navigation. Its asterism of brighter stars served as a guide for those who sailed the oceans.

Eventually, thisterism would be named "The Teapot," and although its official boundaries are not well defined, it is still used by many observational astronomers for navigation.

Today Sagittarius remains one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac and is recognized by the International Astronomical Union.

In the field of astronomical research, in 1977, the Radio Observatory of the Ohio State University detected what to date seems to be the only signal from an extraterrestrial civilization of which there is a record.

This signal is commonly known as the WOW! because this was the annotation that Professor Jerry Ehman made on the signal recording paper.

Sagittarius resides in the fourth quadrant of the Southern Hemisphere (SQ4), at latitudes between 90° S and 55° N°. It means that we can see the constellation in the night sky from almost all parts of the world, including some areas of Antarctica.

Sagittarius is visible from North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and Antarctica. However, it is not visible from areas near the north pole, such as some parts of Russia, some Northern parts of Canada, and European countries above Germany and Poland.

Sagittarius is a seasonal constellation, which means it is not in the sky all year round. It belongs to the group of northern summer constellations.

We can see it from August to the end of September. The best month to search for this constellation is August.

Sagittarius is one of the most prominent constellations, so it is not difficult to find in the sky.

From the northern hemisphere, Sagittarius is never high in the sky. To see it, you have to look south and look for the asterism of teapot-shaped stars next to the Scorpio constellation, which is made up of very bright stars such as Tau Sagittarii, Kaus Australis, and Kaus Borealis.

Another way to find it is with the Summer Triangle (The Summer Triangle is a figure made up of 3 very bright stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair, which belong to 3 different constellations.)

To find Sagittarius, draw a straight line from the tail of the constellation Scorpius to the constellation Capricorn, and right in the middle, you can find Sagittarius.

The bordering constellations of Sagittarius are Aquila, Capricornus, Corona Australis, Indus, Microscopium, Ophiuchus, Scutum, Scorpius, Serpens, Cauda, and Telescopium.

Sagittarius belongs to 12 zodiacal constellations: Gemini, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpius, Aries, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The brightest stars of Sagittarius are ε Sagittarii (Kaus Australis), σ Sagittarii and ζ Sagittarii - (Askella or Ascella).

The main stars that form the figure of the Centaur in Sagittarius are: Kaus Australis, Nunki, Ascella, Kaus Medios, Kaus Borealis, Albaldah, Alnasl, Sephdar, Phi Sagittarii, Tau Sagittarii, Polis, Rho Sagittarii, Arkab Prior, Rukbat, Arkab Posterior, Theta-1 Sagittarii, Omega Sagittarii, and Ain al Rami.

There are also several binary stars within a constellation, which are the 2-star systems. In addition, Sagittarius encompasses variable stars that change their magnitude during the year and is one of the constellations with the most planetary systems.

Located 143 light-years from our solar system, Epsilon Sagittarii is a binary star. It is the brightest in the constellation Sagittarius.

The brightest component of the system is Kaus Australis, a blue class B giant with a luminosity 375 times that of the Sun and an apparent magnitude of 1.79.

The second brightest star in the constellation Sagittarius is Sigma Sagittarii, a hydrogen fusion dwarf star belonging to the spectral type B2.5 V that lies 228 light-years from the Sun and has an apparent magnitude of 2.1.

Being very important for the study of the universe, S2 is a bluish-white star of spectral type B0-2V that rotates around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

It has a mass 19.5 times greater than the Sun and a radius seven times greater.

It is also known as WR 102ka; it is one of the most luminous stars known within the Milky Way. Its name is mainly due to the nebula surrounding it, the Peony Nebula.

Peony Star is located 26,100 light-years from the solar system. It is classified as a Wolf-Rayet star with an absolute magnitude of -11.5.

The luminosity of this star is estimated to be about 3.2 million times greater than the Sun's. Still, it can only be observed at infrared wavelengths.

VX Sagittarii, one of the five most prominent known stars within our galaxy, is located at a distance of approximately 5,150 light-years from the Sun and is an evolved red supergiant (M4eIa) with a radius between 1350 times that of the Sun.

The star is within the group of semi-regulatory variables of the SRc type. It is also a variable star with a pulsating period of 732 days.

Teapot asterism is famous in astronomical observation because it is very bright and easy to find.

It is a quadrilateral formed by four stars of the fourth magnitude within the regions of the constellation of Sagittarius Omega Sagittarii, 59 Sagittarii, 60 Sagittarii, and 62 Sagittarii.

Sagittarius is also known as home to several deep-sky objects. Deep-sky objects often mean star clusters, nebulae (interstellar cloud bodies), or galaxies.

In the case of Sagittarius, it is rich in several notable galaxies, star clusters, and planetary nebulae. Some of them are:

Sagittarius A is a source of radio waves located in the center of the Milky Way, in the central region of the constellation Sagittarius. Still, it is only detectable with telescopes as large clouds of cosmic dust hide it.

Due to its colossal energy Sagittarius A is the leading candidate where the supermassive black hole that forms our galaxy is thought to be located.

Messier 18 is an open star cluster about 32 million years old. It was one of the objects discovered by the famous astronomer Charles Messier in 1764.

It is one of the closest globular star clusters to Earth and one of the brightest.

Messier 22 is located approximately 10,600 light-years away has an elliptical shape and an apparent visual magnitude of 5.1.

The Lagoon Nebula is a giant interstellar emission nebula. It is one of only two nebulae within the galaxy where stars form and are visible to the naked eye.

It has an apparent magnitude of 6.0 and is approximately 4,100 light-years away.

The most famous meteor shower within the boundaries of Sagittarius is known as "The Sagittariids." It occurs between June 1 and July 15.

The peak of observation occurred on June 19.

• Sagittarius is the constellation with the most confirmed planetary systems as it has 32 stars with confirmed planets.
• Many people confuse the constellation of Sagittarius with the constellation of Centaurus, as both are depicted with the same creature.
• Currently, Sagittarius is one of the areas of the sky most studied by astronomers because it is located right in the region that marks the center of the galaxy.

• Since Sagittarius is a zodiac constellation, it belongs to the zodiac family's constellations.
• Sagittarius means "the centaur," its story comes from Greek mythology about the centaur Chiron, master of Hercules.
• Sagittarius has a southern constellation, but we can see it from all the northern hemisphere countries. The best time to observe Sagittarius is August. 
• Sagittarius is straightforward to locate as it is one of the most prominent constellations. The easiest way to find it is with the star asterism called "The Teapot."
• The brightest stars of Sagittarius are ε Sagittarii (Kaus  Australis), σ Sagittarii and ζ Sagittarii - (Askella or Ascella) and are easy to find in the night sky.  
• The most famous profuse body of heaven within the borders of Sagittarius is Sagittarius A, which may be the point where the supermassive black hole of the  Milky Way is located.
• The strongest meteor shower in Sagittarius is the Sagittariids.

1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Sagittarius-constellation
2. https://www.space.com/21653-sagittarius-constellation.html
3. https://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/sagittarius-constellation/
4. https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/sagittarius-heres-your-constellation/
5. http://www.seasky.org/constellations/constellation -sagittarius.html
6. https://www.ub.edu/ipoa/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/20182AuOrLull.pdf