Sagittarius the Teapot

Low in the South at about 10:30 at night, you can find a teapot in the summer night sky. The official constellation is actually Sagittarius the Archer, a centaur shooting a bow and arrow. The teapot is much easier to find, and can point you in the direction of the center of our galaxy! 

I have previously written about Scorpius the Scorpion. If you can find Scorpius, follow the stinger on the end of his tail toward the east to a group of stars that looks like a teapot - can you see the handle, lid and spout in the image below? 

The teapot is low in the South at 10:30 PM, next to Scorpius. Image Credit: Me and Stellarium

If you need a little help, here is the same image with constellation lines:

Now can you see the teapot? Image Credit: Me and Stellarium

The official constellation is not a teapot, but rather a centaur shooting a bow and arrow. This way of imagining the stars dates all the way back to the ancient Babylonians, who saw their god Nergal in the sky there. Nergal was a centaur-like creature, but stranger, with wings, two heads (one panther and one human) and a scorpion's stinger raised above it's horse tail. 

Johannes Hevelius created one of the best loved collections of constellation drawings in 1687, called Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia. The beautiful images are now in the common domain. You can find most of them here.

The Greeks adapted the Babylonian version of the constellation to the centaur. Sagittarius is pointing his arrow right at the heart of the Scorpion, ready to shoot if ever Scorpius attempts to attack Orion again - but that is a story for another day. 

If you can't see the centaur, don't worry, you are in good company. Most people just imagine the teapot in the sky. And if you are in a nice dark sky, you can imagine the trail of light from the Milky Way is the steam rising from the teapot! 

By Mike Fernwood on Flicker. The teapot and the Milky Way "steam".

The spout of the teapot points towards the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The galactic center is the brightest part of the Milky Way as seen in our sky, but you have to be in a really dark sky to appreciate it. 
 

Sagittarius and the center of the Milky Way. Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

There is strong evidence supporting the likelihood of a supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy, called Sagittarius A*. Astronomers have detected its radio waves, and even measured its diameter by linking radio telescopes in Hawai'i, Arizona, and California (using them as one GIANT telescope!). The event horizon of Sagittarius A* would fill Mercury's orbit!

An X-ray flare detected from Sagittarius A* by the Chandra Observatory.

Go out after sunset and look for the teapot - and if you are in a dark sky, find the center of the Milky Way and reflect on how small we humans are. Remember, you can always learn about what's up in the night sky at the Dome Planetarium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
You can follow the Dome Planetarium on Twitter @DomePlanetarium and Facebook too. 

Relax Under the Stars is this Wednesday!