June 2012 star map, looking south, at a mid-northern latitude, around 10 or 11 p.m.

Sagittarius sticks close to the horizon and is a Centaurian Archer. At mid-northern latitudes and above (I’m at about 47N), some of the stars are cut off from view, but, really, the brightest part of him is an asterism called The Teapot, so we’ll just focus on that. Sorry, Centaurian Archer–but the teapot thing is still really cool! It’s easy to pick out, and you can sing “I’m A Little Teapot” with your kids with only a few alterations to the end of the verse.

Sing to the tune of “I’m a Little Teapot” while pointing out the teapot asterism to your kids.

To the right of Sagittarius is Scorpius. Scorpius has a red star at its heart with a gently-curved line of stars to its right (or slightly above-right, depending on the time of night or time of year). This curvy line is the front where the claws of the scorpion would be. Leftward and down is the curly body and tail with the stinger on the end. The full curve of the tail is cut off for observers at and above mid-northern latitudes.

June 2012 around 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. from mid-northern latitudes looking south, with constellation figures. Map created in Stellarium.

If you look later in the June nights (2 a.m.), or earlier in the evenings but later in the season of summer, more of Sagittarius is revealed, and the scorpion starts to lay down on the horizon.

June 2012 around 2 a.m. More of Sagittarius is visible, while Scorpius starts tilting to the right.

The Milky Way comes between Sagittarius and Scorpius, and the center of the galaxy lies in this direction as well, so if you can point out these constellations to your kids, you can also tell them that when they are looking this way, they are looking at the center of our galaxy.

To the right of Scorpius is Libra, a faint, rectangular constellation which at one time was associated with the claws of the scorpion. Two of my favorite star names are in Libra: Zubenelgenubi (Zoo-ben-el-jen-oo-bee, the “southern claw”) and Zubeneschamali (Zoo-ben-es-sha-mah-lee, the “northern claw”).

Libra has two stars whose names are fun to rattle off to children: Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali.

You can challenge your kids to say those star names 10 times fast and see how they do!

Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer is over here, too, on top of Scorpius, and he is holding Serpens the Serpent. Ophiuchus has a large, tall pentagon shape to him, and to either side twists Serpens. In a rather unique arrangement, Ophiuchus actually separates Serpens into two parts, although Serpens is considered just one constellation. The left side (to the east) is Serpens Cauda, the tail, and to the right (west) is Serpens Caput, the head. Ophiuchus actually crosses the ecliptic plane–the path in the sky that the sun, moon, and planets appear to travel along–so it is actually a 13th zodiacal constellation. Ophiuchus is situated behind the sun between November 29 and December 17. If you really want to rile up an astrologer, call Ophiuchus the 13th sign of the zodiac–they tend to not like that at all.

Here are a couple of tips for spotting the Ophiuchus pentagonoid:

• A line drawn from Vega to Antares will almost bisect Ophiuchus.

• A line drawn from Altair to Arcturus crosses through the top point star of Ophiuchus. (This line may have to dip downward in a slightly curving line for this to really work.)

Happy summer stargazing!

Cygnus the Swan, Lyra the Harp, and Aquila the Eagle. The Summer Triangle is made up of the brightest stars of each of these.

Looking east, the Summer Triangle is up by 10 or 11 p.m. This *asterism is made up of three bright stars from three different constellations: Vega in Lyra the Harp; Deneb in Cygnus the Swan; and Altair in Aquila the Eagle. As summer goes on, the triangle will appear higher and higher in the sky each night, “moving” westward. The Summer Triangle can be picked out when the brightest stars are appearing after sunset, so it can be an easy target for young astronomers just starting to learn their summer stars. Left: a Stellarium map of these three constellations with figures drawn. Below: a Stellarium map of these constellations with the triangle shape drawn in.

In early June, the summer triangle is up in the east by 10 or 11 p.m. The three stars at its points are Vega in Lyra the Harp; Deneb in Cygnus the Swan; and Altair in Aquila the Eagle.

Looking north, the Big Dipper swings down to the northeast. You can visualize it in two different ways: hanging down by its handle, or that its handle is standing up like a growing plant. (I prefer the plant picture. It is summer, after all, and I have little herblings growing! I’m waiting for my pumpkin patch to sprout now too. Follow the **Drinking Gourd, my dear Cucurbita plantlings! Anyway, moving on….)

Mars is still in Leo, below the feet, and as summer goes on it will appear to move eastward across the stars to hang out with Saturn by the star Spica in Virgo.

Summer is a good time to get away from city lights and have a look at the Milky Way, the band of our galaxy that we can see from Earth. In the summer nights it stretches high overhead almost north to south, and it crosses through the Summer Triangle. In the southern view of the sky it will pass between Scorpius and Sagittarius, but I’ll feature those in Part 2 of June Stargazing later on.

Below is one of my nice, messy Starhopper’s Guides to the Night Sky, and since it has a lot on it, I’ve also placed below it a clean map with constellation lines and labels. For other Starhopper’s Guides to the Night Sky-style maps, see my earlier posts Orion is Leaving Us!, Spring Constellations: Corvus, Crater, Hydra, and Cancer, and Can You Handle Hercules? (Click on the image to see a larger version of it.)

A Starhopper’s Guide to the Night Sky, June 2012, looking north.

For comparison, here is a “clean” map showing the same constellations as the Starhopper’s Guide above it.

* An asterism is a pattern of stars that may be part of an official constellation or made up of stars from several constellations. A constellation (by today’s astronomical consideration) is an internationally defined area of the night sky.

** One legend of the Big Dipper is that it was called The Drinking Gourd and was used by The Underground Railroad as a guide to help slaves escape northward. There is a folk song called “Follow the Drinking Gourd” which supposedly contained a map to be followed. However, research into the history of the song indicates that the story behind the song may actually be “fakelore” or “processed folklore,” and not actual, factual history. I learned about the Drinking Gourd story as a kid in school, and I know there have been planetarium shows based on it. I hadn’t looked much into the matter myself, but I recently came across that bit of research about the song and found it interesting. I haven’t yet looked into what that means for the Big Dipper/Drinking Gourd star group’s role in history, although it could possibly be that the Big Dipper/Drinking Gourd asterism was used to point people’s way north, because it does point to the north star. –Here ends your random aside for the day.

The constellation of Sagittarius is commonly depicted as a centaur—human torso, horse body—with a raised bow and arrow. It is one of the oldest constellations, but a little hard to distinguish as a bow-wielding centaur. And so modern stargazers frequently reduce it to its famous asterism called “The Teapot.” An asterism is a group of stars that is not recognized as an official constellation, yet they–like The Teapot, The Big Dipper, and The Summer Triangle–shine with distinction.

You can alter the well-known "I'm a little teapot" song to point out The Teapot of Sagittarius to your kids.

Even if you can’t see the whole centaur, you should be able to spot The Teapot fairly easily. I’ve included a couple of images/maps to aid you. And Sagittarius, or The Teapot, are well worth spotting: for one, it points the way to the galactic center, so you can see the Milky Way there, if you’ve got clear, dark skies; for another, the sun shines in Sagittarius on the December solstice (winter solstice for us Northern Hemispherians). When can you spot Sagittarius or The Teapot? In the evening of late summer and early autumn.

Map looking south on September 26, 2011, using Stellarium.

The Milky Way comes between Sagittarius and Scorpius. Scorpius is to the west of Sagittarius, which by now is pretty much done for the year, and so is not on the above star map. Look for the Milky Way on clear, dark nights of summer and autumn, like steam rising from The Teapot’s spout. This is the combined glow of the millions of stars in our galactic disk. A pretty awesome photograph of The Teapot in Sagittarius with some Milky Way goodness can be found here.

Thank you for pausing with me a moment in observance of Sagittarius. And now, oddly enough, I would like to brew a pot of tea.

The Summer Triangle is not a constellation itself, but an asterism. An asterism is a pattern of stars that may be part of an official constellation or made up of stars from several constellations. A constellation (by today’s astronomical consideration) is an internationally defined area of the night sky. The stars which make up the Summer Triangle are:

• Vega, of Lyra the Harp. Vega is the topmost and brightest star of the triangle.
• Deneb, of Cygnus the Swan. Deneb is lower left of Vega, by a visual distance of two or three fist-widths at arm’s length.
• Altair, of Aquila the Eagle. Altair is farther to the right, and the last of the three stars to rise.

Under a clear, dark sky you can see the Milky Way stretching through and beyond this large starry triangle. Aim some binoculars at this region to marvel at the sheer quantity of stars found here.

The Summer Triangle will be visible now all summer. As we approach autumn, it will reach a position high in the south to overhead at dusk and early evening, so there is plenty of time for your little astronomers to become acquainted with this asterism.