Sagittarius - The Archer

Learn about the constellation Sagittarius - The Archer, location, facts, mythology, meteor showers and deep space objects.

Sagittarius is a constellation of the zodiac, commonly depicted as a centaur drawing a bow. Sagittarius lies between Ophiuchus to the west and Capricornus to the east.

Location: Southern Constellation 19h RA -25° Dec

The Milky Way as seen from the Earth is at its densest as it passes through Sagittarius, as this is where the galactic center lies. Consequently, it contains many star clusters and nebulae. One of the brightest of the star clusters is Messier 55, about 7.5° west of δ Sgr.

Mythology

In Greek mythology, Sagittarius was sometimes identified as Chiron, aiming his bow at the Scorpion, although the more usual identification of Chiron was with the constellation Centaurus. The constellation Sagitta was sometimes considered to be an arrow fired by Sagittarius.

Deep Space Objects

The constellation contains the Arches Cluster, the Quintuplet Cluster with the luminous Pistol Star, the Galactic centre, the radio source Sagittarius A, and several very famous deep sky objects, including the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy, the Sagittarius Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, Barnard's Galaxy, the Bubble Nebula, and as many as 15 Messier objects, among them the Sagittarius Star Cloud (Messier 24), the Omega Nebula (Messier 17), Messier 18, the Lagoon Nebula (Messier 8), and the Trifid Nebula (Messier 20).

In this table, the observation month represents the month in which the object reaches its highest point in the sky. It can also be viewed a few months before and after depending on your location. Direction is the compass direction in which the object is located, with Z meaning Zenith or overhead.