08/13/2020 – Ephemeris – Sagittarius the archer, morphs into a teapot

This is Bob Moler with Ephemeris for Thursday, August 13th. Today the Sun will be up for 14 hours and 7 minutes, setting at 8:50, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:44. The Moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 1:53 tomorrow morning.

Due south and low in the sky at 10:30 p.m. now is one of my favorite asterisms the Teapot of the constellation Sagittarius. Sagittarius classically represents a centaur with a bow and arrow aimed at the heart of the constellation Scorpius to its west. I can find the bow and arrow here, but the half man half horse figure of the centaur eludes me. However the stout little teapot of the children’s song is quite obvious, with its base, lid on top, handle to the left and the spout to the right. To make things more realistic the bright Milky Way seems to rise like steam from its spout. As the night goes on the Teapot slides westward and appears to tilt, pouring its tea on the southwestern horizon. Jupiter and Saturn are just to the left of it now.

The event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Sagittarius-Teapot finder animation for 10 pm August 13, 2020. Click on the image to enlarge. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.