Home > Constellations, Ephemeris Program, Observing > Ephemeris: 08/14/2025 – Centaur or Teapot, you decide

Ephemeris: 08/14/2025 – Centaur or Teapot, you decide

August 14, 2025

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, August 14th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 5 minutes, setting at 8:49, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:45. The Moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:11 this evening.

Low in the south at 10:30 PM shines the heart of summer Milky Way. The constellation that’s seen there is Sagittarius which is supposed to be a centaur with a bow and arrow. We modern folk haven’t seen a centaur outside a Harry Potter movie, so we see its stars looking like a teapot, a short and stout little teapot like in the children’s song. It is tipped to the West with the Milky Way like steam rising from its spout, which is about to pour its tea on the southwestern horizon later tonight. Sagittarius is just begging to be explored with binoculars or a very low power telescope to see its myriad of stars, star clusters and nebulae. As fabulous as all this appears, we cannot see into the heart of the Milky Way for all the clouds of dust in the way.

The astronomical event times given in this blog are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (Lat 44.7° N, Long 85.7° W; EDT, UT – 4 hours) unless stated otherwise. Times will be different for other locations.

Addendum

An animated constellation of Sagittarius and Teapot asterism finder.
An animated constellation of Sagittarius and Teapot asterism finder in 4 frames for about 10:30 PM, August 14th. First the stars as they would be seen in the sky. Second, lines showing the teapot asterism with the Milky Way seen as steam rising from the spout. Then the lines drawn of the constellation in a modern rendition. And finally, the art image showing the Centaur by Stellarium. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.
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