Sagittarius (constellation)

The brightest stars are 1.8 and 2.0 stars of visual magnitude . In Sagittarius are the point of the winter solstice, as well as the center of the Galaxy , about 30,000 light-years distant from us and hidden behind clouds of interstellar dust .

It is believed that Sagittarius is located the most beautiful part of the Milky Way , a lot of globular clusters, as well as dark and bright nebulae. For example, the Lagoon Nebula ( M8 ), Omega ( M17 ; other names are Swan, Horseshoe), Triple ( M20 ; another name is Triple-sided), open clusters M18 , M21 , M23 , M25 and NGC 6603 , globular clusters M22 , M28 , M54 , M55 , M69 , M70 , M75 . In the radio range in Sagittarius there are several bright sources, one of which ( Sagittarius A * ) is believed to be a supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy ^[1] .

In the northeastern part of the constellation, not far from the strip of the Milky Way, at a distance of 1.7 million sv. years away lies the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822 , discovered by E. Barnard in 1884 . In 2002, the planet was discovered, orbiting the star OGLE-TR-56 .

The star closest to the Sun in Sagittarius is Ross 154 , located 9.69 light years away.

For 2011, Sagittarius ranks first among the constellations in terms of the number of variable stars - there are 5,559 of them, which is two times more than in the second Orion .

Asterism Maker includes the following constellation stars: ζ ( Askella ), φ, δ ( Kauks Meridianalis ) and ε ( Kaus Australis ) - the teapot itself, λ ( Kauks Borealis ) - cover, τ and σ ( Nunks ) - handle and γ² ( Alnazl ) - spout. The strip of the Milky Way near the star Alnazl symbolizes flowing boiling water. The alternative name is Milkman .

Terebellum is a small asterism out of four stars located in the shape of a Latin cross . Includes stars ω, 59, 62 and 60 Sagittarius.

Interestingly, the star α ( Rukbat ) is not the brightest in the constellation, its apparent magnitude is only 3.96 ^m .

As a rule, the Sun is in a constellation from December 18 to January 18 ^[2] . Constellation can be seen from late February to early November. The best conditions for observations in June — July can be seen fully in the southern regions of Russia and partly in the central ones. The visibility of the star σ of Sagittarius (the second brightest star of the constellation) begins at latitude 63 ° 42 '(this star is satisfactorily visible already in the south of Central Russia and the South Urals), and the brightest star ε of Sagittarius - at latitude 55 ° 37' (this star in Russia satisfactorily visible only in the southern areas)

On August 15, 1977, Dr. Jerry Eyman received the famous Wow! Signal from the constellation Sagittarius .

Ancient constellation. It is believed that the name suggested by Kleostrat . Included in the catalog of the starry sky Claudius Ptolemy " Almagest ".

The ancient Greeks constellation appeared in the form of a centaur - a mixamorphic creature with a human torso on the horse's body. The same constellation was depicted in all heavenly atlases. The Greek myth connects the constellation Sagittarius with the centaur Crotos , about which there are no developed myths. Another myth associates a constellation with the wise Chiron . There is a compilation myth as follows. It was believed that the inventor of the celestial globe was the centaur Chiron, who created it specifically for the campaign of the Argonauts . On the globe, Chiron left a place for himself in the form of the zodiac constellation Sagittarius. But the centaur Krotos overtook Chiron, taking his heavenly place, and he had to be content with the less honorable constellation Centaurus .

In Russian, the constellation is referred to as “ Strelts ” back in 1073 in the “ Izbornik Svyatoslav ” ^[3] .

• Zodiac sign Sagittarius .
• List of stars in the constellation Sagittarius .

•   Sagittarius (constellation) : Wikimedia Commons
• WIKISKY.ORG: Sagittarius
• Sagittarius (Neopr.) . Astromif . The date of circulation is November 4, 2012. Archived November 4, 2012.