Sagittarius the Archer

constellation · zodiac · night sky · archer

Shaped like a centaur. Sagittarius is shown as a half-human, half-horse archer. Ancient people saw this mythical creature in the stars and named the constellation after it.

Ancient and still famous. Ptolemy, a famous astronomer from around 2,000 years ago, listed Sagittarius as one of the 48 constellations he could see. Today it's still one of the 88 official constellations in the sky.

Southern hemisphere view. You can see Sagittarius in the southern part of the night sky. It sits between the constellations Scorpius and Capricornus, nestled in a special zodiac region.

Latin name meaning. The word 'Sagittarius' comes from Latin and simply means 'archer'. It perfectly describes this bow-wielding centaur warrior in the stars.

Zodiac zodiac sign. Sagittarius is one of the 12 zodiac constellations used in astrology and astronomy. It represents people born between November 22 and December 21.