Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Tuesday, September 11th.  The sun will rise at 7:17.  It’ll be up for 12 hours and 42 minutes, setting at 7:59.   The moon, 3 days past last quarter, will rise at 3:28 tomorrow morning.

Low in the south at 10 p.m. lies the constellation of Sagittarius.  The name means archer, but this isn’t just any old fellow with a bow and arrow.  It’s a centaur with a bow and arrow.  These half man half horse creatures were a rowdy bunch; kind of the ancient Greek counterpart of a motorcycle gang.  The one exception is this centaur, Chiron by name.  He was highly educated, and learned medicine from the great physician Aesculapius, whom we see in the sky to the upper right as the constellation Ophiuchus. His drawn bow and arrow can also be seen in the stars here, pointing to Scorpius the scorpion’s heart.  If it’s hard seeing a Centaur here don’t be disappointed.  To most of us the constellation looks like a stout little teapot.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Sagittarius and the Milky Way September 11, 2012 10 p.m. Created using Stellarium.