We are on the hunt for another small, northern summer constellation this week: Sagitta, the arrow. Although it consists of just a handful of faint stars, Sagitta’s distinctive shape (it really does look like an arrow) makes it easy to identify against a dark sky. The chart shows the view looking up towards the zenith while facing south from London at on Monday.
Sagitta can be found about partway along the imaginary line connecting Vega and Altair, which make up the summer triangle with Deneb. Although it is the third-smallest constellation in the sky, Sagitta has been recognised since ancient times. The 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy placed it on his list of 48 constellations published in The Almagest.
There are a number of stories from Greek mythology that could be attributed to the arrow. It could be the one fired by Hercules to kill the eagle tormenting Prometheus, or it could be one of Cupid’s famous arrows. Observers in the southern hemisphere can also see Sagitta during August, although it appears lower in the northern sky than it does from the UK.
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