39Sagitta, The Arrow
NAME: Sagitta (SADG-ih-taw)
SEASON: Summer
CULMINATION: midnight, 17 July
ABBREVIATION: Sge
GENITIVE: Sagittae (SADG-ih-tye)
NEIGHBORS: Aql, Del, Her, Vul
BINOCULAR OBJECTS: NGC 6838 (M 71)
URBAN OBJECTS: none
Sagitta is a tiny, faint, north equatorial constellation that ranks 86th in size among the 88 constellations. Sagitta covers only 80 square degrees of the celestial sphere, or about 0.2%. Of the constellations visible to observers at mid-northern latitudes, only Equuleus is smaller. The brightest stars in Sagitta are fourth magnitude, and it has only five of those.
Despite its tiny size and lack of prominent stars, Sagitta is an ancient constellation, one of Ptolemy’s original 48. Although the names are similar, Sagitta ...
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