Sagitta, the Arrow, is one of the smallest constellations, a short, sharp line of stars flying through the Summer Triangle between Aquila and Cygnus.
At a glance
| stars in the figure | 4 |
|---|---|
| nearest star of the figure | Gamma Sagittae, 258 light-years (79.2 pc) |
| farthest star of the figure | Delta Sagittae, 594 light-years (182 pc) |
| depth | the farthest is 2.3 × farther than the nearest |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Sagitta
Sagitta is one of the ancient constellations listed by Ptolemy. It is small but unmistakable: four faint stars in a line, with a forked tail, pointing east through the Milky Way. Greek stories gave the arrow to several owners, among them Heracles and Apollo. It sits inside the Summer Triangle of Vega, Deneb and Altair, between Aquila, Vulpecula and Delphinus.
Its brightest star is Gamma Sagittae, a red giant at the arrow’s tip, while Sham marks the tail. Within its borders lies M71, a loose star cluster long debated as an unusually dense open cluster, now accepted as a globular. Because the arrow lies along the Milky Way, its background is crowded with faint stars.
Sagitta is best seen on summer evenings in the northern hemisphere, high overhead from mid-northern latitudes. Lying north of the celestial equator, it is lower but still visible from much of the southern hemisphere.
What you see in the piece
Fly out with CONSTELLATIONS (N) on, leaving the HUMAN EYE view (E): the arrow’s stars lie at noticeably different depths, its nearest well in front of its farthest, so the shaft stretches and tilts away from Earth.
Questions
What is the smallest constellation?
The smallest constellation is Crux; Sagitta, the Arrow, is among the smallest, a short line of four stars in the Summer Triangle.
How far away are the stars of Sagitta?
The nearest star of the figure is Gamma Sagittae, 258 light-years (79.2 pc); the farthest is Delta Sagittae, 594 light-years (182 pc). The farthest is 2.3 × farther than the nearest.