Sagitta constellation lies in the northern sky. Its name means “the arrow” in Latin.
Sagitta is one of the Greek constellations. It was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century. It represents Heracles’ arrow in Greek mythology.
Sagitta is the third smallest constellation in the sky. It has no stars brighter than fourth magnitude and contains few notable deep sky objects. These include the globular cluster Messier 71 (NGC 6838) and the Necklace Nebula, a planetary nebula discovered in 2005.
FACTS, LOCATION & MAP
Sagitta is the 86th constellation in size, occupying an area of only 80 square degrees. The only constellations smaller than Sagitta are Equuleus and Crux.
Sagitta lies in the fourth quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ4) and can be seen at latitudes between +90° and -70°, from every location on Earth except the Antarctic Circle. The neighboring constellations are Aquila, Delphinus, Hercules and Vulpecula.
Sagitta belongs to the Hercules family of constellations, along with Aquila, Ara, Centaurus, Corona Australis, Corvus, Crater, Crux, Cygnus, Hercules, Hydra, Lupus, Lyra, Ophiuchus, Scutum, Sextans, Serpens, Triangulum Australe and Vulpecula.
Sagitta contains one Messier object, the globular cluster Messier 71 (M71, NGC 6838). There are no meteor showers associated with the constellation.
Sagitta does not have any stars brighter than magnitude 3.00 and contains only one star located within 10 parsecs (32.6 light years) of Earth. The brightest star in the constellation is Gamma Sagittae, with an apparent magnitude of 3.51. The nearest star is Gliese 745 (spectral class M1.0VI), located at a distance of 28.14 light years from Earth.
Sagitta has three stars with known exoplanets. HD 231701 (spectral class F8V) has a Jupiter-like planet, discovered in 2007, and 15 Sagittae (G0V) has a long-period brown dwarf companion, detected in 2002. The companion is a high-mass substellar dwarf, only a few Jupiter masses below the limit for a star. HAT-P-34 (F8) also has a transiting planet, discovered in 2012.
MYTH
Sagitta constellation is usually associated with the arrow that Heracles used to kill the eagle that Zeus sent to gnaw Prometheus’ liver. In mythology, Prometheus moulded men and women out of clay in gods’ likeness, and gave them fire that he had stolen from the gods. Zeus decided to punish him for this, and chained him to Mount Caucasus, where the eagle perpetually gnawed his liver, which would always grow again at night.
The eagle is represented by the neighbouring constellation Aquila. Heracles found Prometheus during one of his journeys, killed the eagle with an arrow, and freed Prometheus.
In a different myth, Sagitta is identified as the arrow Apollo used to kill the Cyclopes because they had made the thunderbolts of Zeus that killed Apollo’s son Asclepius, the famous healer, who is represented by Ophiuchus constellation.
In yet another story, Sagitta is associated with the arrow of Eros which made Zeus fall in love with Ganymede, the shepherd represented by Aquarius constellation. In this story, Zeus’ eagle guards the arrow in the sky.
The Greeks knew the constellation as Oistos, and the Romans later named it Sagitta.
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