Sagittarius (The Archer)

Sagittarius, or the arch man from mythology, this constellation is the image of the centaur Chiron, a being who distinguished of the others by his wisdom and knowledge. It was born of the affairs between Cronus and the Phylira nymph, and had the strange form of half man, half horse, because his father had to become horse to generate it. According to the legend, her mother when seeing that she had generated a monster requested the Gods that transformed it, being turned into a linden tree.

Chiron was taught by Apolo and Artemis in the art of medicine and hunting, establishing a consultation in a grotto. His disciples were numerous: Castor, Pollux, Ulysses, etc. In the course of a combat, he was hurt by an arrow soaked in the blood of Hydra of Lerna, which produced terrible pain to him. Since he was inmortal, he did not want to continue living with a perpetual agony, reason why with the consent of the Gods, he shortly after offered his immortality to Prometheus, expiring. Zeus put him between the stars of the sky constituting the constellation of Sagittarius (the arch man).

Sagittarius, or the arch man, is a spectacular constellation of 700 square degrees located in southern hemisphere and observable from almost all the planet, but logically in in the South hemisphere we can contemplate it in its maximum splendor. In southern hemisphere it’s observable during the months of autumn, winter and spring; however for the inhabitants of the northern hemisphere is observable during the warm nights of summer at low height on the horizon.

The main stars forming this constellation are:
Rukbat: its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “knee”.
Kaus Australis: along with Kaus Borealis and Kaus Meridionalis they form the bow (kaus).
Alnast: its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “tip (of the arrow)”.
Ascella: its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “armpit”.
Nunki: its name comes from the Assyrian, meaning “star announced by the sea”, refering a zone in the sky with aquatic constellation (Aquarius, Psices, Piscis austrinus, etc.).
Arkat: its name comes from the Arabic, meaning “tendon”.

Other objects

M 20, a spectacular cluster with nebula of denominated emission including popularly known like leaves, of magnitude 6.3, very easy to locate. It is located closely together of M8, has an angular diameter of 28' of arc and it’s 5,200 light years away from Earth.
M 8, a precious cluster with associated nebula, of magnitude 5.0, it has an angular diameter of 80'x60 ' of arc popularly denominated “the cloudy Lagoon”.
M 21, a precious cluster of magnitude 5.9, 13' of arc of angular diameter. It is 4,200 light years away from Earth. It has a considered age of 4.5 million years, is formed by stars from the eighth magnitude.
M 23, a cluster of magnitude 5.5 located to the north of the constellation, it has an angular diameter of 27' of arc and it is 2,200 light years away from Earth. It has a considered age of 220 million years; it is a relatively old stellar cluster.
M 17, denominated “the swan”, it has an associated nebula to the north of the constellation closely together with Ophiuchus. It has an angular diameter of 11' of arc, and it’s 4,800 light years away from Earth.
M 18, a cluster located to the south of the previous one, of magnitude 6.9 of 9' of arc of angular diameter. It is 3,900 light years away from Earth. It has a considered age of 31 million years.
M 28, a precious globular cluster of magnitude 6.9 located in the center of the constellation. It has an angular diameter of 15' of arc, and it is 18,900 light years away from Earth.
M 22, a globular cluster next to the previous one, of magnitude 5.1 with an angular diameter of 17' of arc. It is 10,000 light years away from Earth.
M 54, a globular cluster located to the south of the constellation, of magnitude 7.7 of 5,5' of angular diameter. It is 70,000 light years away from Eartht, much farther that the nucleus of our galaxy that is 30,000 light years away from Earth, therefore, is in the other part of our galaxy.
M 69, a precious and small globular cluster located to the south of the constellation, of magnitude 7.7 and 3,8' of angular diameter. It is 33,000 light years away from Earth.
M 55, a globular cluster located to the southwest of the constellation, with a 7.0 of magnitude and an angular diameter of 15' of arc. It is 16,600 light years away from Earth.