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Sagittarius

Sagittarius, the archer, is a centaur-a mythological half-man, half-horse creature, who has drawn his bow to avenge Orion, who was slain by the scorpion’s sting. His arrow is pointing a Antares, the bright red star of Scorpius, the scorpion. The constellation originated in Sumeria, then was picked up by the Greeks. The original story of Sagittarius described a satyr, a part man, part goat. The myth refers to Crotus, a satyr that lived on Mount Helicon with the Muses. A satyr has a human head and torso with goat legs and sometimes has horns. According to Greek mythology, Crotus was a skilled musician and hunter, who invented the bow (The Sagittarius Myth - The Correct Story Behind The Myth). In Greek mythology, Sagittarius was the son of the Titan Cronos, and was one of the many centaurs in Greek mythology. Sagittarius, also known as Chiron, drifter away from all the other centaurs for a few different reasons. The main reason was that while the other centaurs were born of sun and rain clouds, Chiron was born half man and half horse. Chiron was accidentally shot with a poisoned arrow by Hercules. Even though Chiron was a great physician, he could not heal the wound. Being immortal meant he couldn't die from it, but still felt the pain. In order for him to die, Chiron offered to replace Prometheus, who was punished by the gods for giving fire to man. Having seen Chiron give up his immortality to release Prometheus from his chains, the king of the gods, Zeus, saw the kindness of Chiron and immortalized him in the stars (Globe at Night - Sagittarius Mythology).



The constellation occupied 867 square degrees and contains the most starts with know planets (16). It’s the largest constellation in the Southern Hemisphere and the 15th largest constellation overall. There are many noticeably bright starts to the human eye. Sagittarius was recorded in the 2nd century by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy, he named it Sagittarius which is Latin for archer. It is located in the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, lying between Scorpius and Ophiuchus to the West and Capricornus to the East. The constellation also borders Aquila, Scutum, Serpens, Cauda, Ophiuchus, Corona Australis, Telescopium, Indus and Micropcopium. The best time to view Sagittarius is in August around 9pm at night (Sagittarius Constellation: Facts About the Archer). The constellation’s brightest stars - Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Phi, Lambda, Gamma-2, Sigma and Tau Sagittarii-form a pattern of a teapot. Delta, Epsilon and Lambda Sagittarii come together to form the archer’s bow. The brightest star in the constellation is also the 36th brightest star in the sky. Epsilon Sagittarii is 125 light-years away and 375 times brighter than the sun. The star forming the top of the teapot, Lambda Sagittarii is 77 light-years from the sun and is classified as an orange giant. The tip of the archer’s arrow is marked by Gamma Sagittarii, and orange giant that is 95 light-years from earth. Sigma Sagittarii, with a magnitude of 2.1, is the second bright star in the Sagittarius. Zeta Sagittarii, also known as Ascella, makes up the armpit of the archer, if the third brightest star in Sagittarius (Sagittarius, the Archer). Sagittarius has a bright blue hypergian Piston Star, one of the brightest stars discovered int he Milky Way. While the star is bright, it is barley visible to the human eye, due to the amount of interstellar dust that surrounds it. It is part of a dense section full of massive young stars, known as Quintuplet Cluster near the center of the galaxy. Sagittarius is also home to a bright radio source called Sagittarius A. Scientist think that area if space may hold a black hole. In the same region, there are several nebulae, including the Lagoon Nebula (M8 or NGC 6523), which is a large interstellar coif about 50-110 light-years in dimension. The Omega Nebula (M17 or NGC 6618) and the Trifid Nebula (M20 or NGC 6514) are “star nurseries” birthing dozens of new stars. The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galay was the first globular cluster ever discovered outside the Milky Way. (Sagittarius Constellation: Facts About the Archer).

Work Cited

Contributor, Kim Ann Zimmermann SPACE.com. "Sagittarius Constellation: Facts About the Archer | Space.com." N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2015.

"Globe at Night - Sagittarius Mythology." Globe at Night - Sagittarius Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2015.

"The Sagittarius Myth - The Correct Story Behind The Myth." The Sagittarius Myth - The Correct Story Behind The Myth. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2015.

"Sagittarius, the Archer." Sagittarius, the Archer. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 May 2015 (Image).