Constellation Sagitta (Arrow)

Properties

Sagitta is located in a star-rich region of the Milky Way, north of the star Atair in Aquila. It is a small constellation, but with a distinctive shape reminiscent of an arrow flying from west to east. The constellation, which is 80 square degrees, culminates around midnight on July 17th. ^{[9, 15]}

Stars with Proper Names ^[154]
α Sge	Sham, Alsahm

Data for constellation Sagitta ^[150]
IAU Name	Sagitta
IAU Genitive	Sagittae
IAU Abbr.	Sge
English Name	Arrow
Culmination at local midnight	16 July
Season (Latitude +46.8°)	March … January
Right Ascension (J2000.0)	18^h 57^m 21^s … 20^h 20^m 45^s
Declination (J2000.0)	+16° 04' 45" … +21° 38' 37"
Area	80 deg²
Neighbours (N↻)	Vul, Her, Aql, Del

Deep-Sky Object Descriptions

Catalogues

Mythology and History

Sagitta is the arrow with which Heracles hit the eagle who pecked at the liver of Prometheus every day, as punishment for stealing the fire from heaven for the people. According to another representation, the arrow is supposed to be the symbol of cosmic light.

The Greeks called the constellation Tóxon or Oistos, the Romans Latinized it to Sagitta and the Arabs spoke of El Sham . ^{[10, 21]}