Sagittarius

 Sagittarius is one of the constellations of  the zodiac and is located in the Southern  Celestial  hemisphere .

 It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy and remains one of the 88 modern constellations 

Its name is Latin  meaning archer, and its symbol is   a stylized arrow. Sagittarius is commonly represented as a centaur pulling back a bow. 

It lies between Scorpius  and Ophiuchus to the west and Capricornus  and Microscopium  to the east.

See the  name  Microscopium, from microscope. Isn't it interesting?

Greek mythologyEdit

In Greek  mythology , Sagittarius is usually identified as a centar: half human, half horse. 

a creature with the head, arms, and torso of a man and the body and legs of a horse.

The arrow of this constellation points towards the star Antares, the "heart of the scorpion"

Sagittarius stands poised to attack Scorpius so that it should never attack the  nearby Hercules,& also to punish Scorpius because it killed Orion.

In Hindu mythology ,it is called as Dhanu rashi.Dhanu means bow.See the similarity.

Mul Nakshatra,Poorvashadha & Uttarashadha are included in Dhanu Rashi.

Some people see the resemblance of  it to a Teapot.

Do you remember ice cream cup & cone?

Now it's a teapot.

Teapot is a prominent asterism in the southern sky, formed by the brightest stars of the southern constellation Sagittarius. 

The body of the Teapot is formed by the stars Kaus Media (DeltaSagittarii), Kaus Australis 

(Epsilon Sagittarii), Ascella (Zeta Sagittarii) and Nanto (Phi Sagittarii). Kaus Borealis (Lambda Sagittarii) marks the point of the lid, Alnasl (Gamma Sagittarii) marks the tip of the spout, and Nunki (Sigma Sagittarii) and Hecatebolus (Tau Sagittarii) form the handle of the Teapot.

The star Alnasl gets its name from the Arabic word for “arrowhead,” while the stars Kaus Media, Kaus Borealis and Kaus Australis represent different parts of the bow.

The stars’ names mean “centre of bow,” ”northern bow,” and “southern bow,” respectively.

Interesting na?

Deep sky objects

The Teapot can be used to find a number of notable deep sky objects – clusters and nebulae – located near the eight bright stars and in the rich, dense Milky Way field just to the northwest of the asterism. 

So this is the story.

We will meet soon.

Till then bye.

Do comment.