To modern eyes, the brightest stars of the constellation Sagittarius form the outline of a teapot, with the handle to the left and the spout to the right. To ancient eyes, though, it was the archer — a centaur holding a bow and arrow. It’s tough to pick out the centaur, but the bow is easy. It’s traced by an arc of three stars in the teapot, including the brightest star in the whole constellation.
The stars are Kaus Borealis, Kaus Media, and Kaus Australis — names that mean the northern, middle, and southern points of the bow. Kaus Borealis forms the top of the teapot. Kaus Australis is at the teapot’s bottom right, and is the brightest member of the constellation. And Kaus Media bows outward between them.
All three stars are giants — they’re much bigger and brighter than the Sun. And even though they’re much younger than the Sun, they’re much later in life. That’s because they’re all more massive than the Sun. Heavy stars consume their nuclear fuel quickly, so they burn out in a hurry. That process causes their outer layers to puff up, which makes them much brighter.
Kaus Media is the farthest member of the bow, which means that it’s actually the most impressive of the three stars — it’s more than a thousand times brighter than the Sun.
And if there’s a bow, there must be an arrow as well. It forms the outer point of the spout of the teapot — one more giant star that’s near the end of its life.
Script by Damond Benningfield
Kwa macho ya kisasa, nyota zenye kung'aa zaidi za kundi la nyota la Sagittarius hufanana na chungu cha chai, kiganja chake kikiwa upande wa kushoto na mdomo wake upande wa kulia. Hata hivyo, kwa macho ya kale, alikuwa mpiga-mishale - centaur mwenye upinde na mshale. Ni vigumu kuchagua centaur, lakini upinde ni rahisi. Ni <unk> inafuatwa na arc ya nyota tatu katika teapot, ikiwa ni pamoja na nyota mkali zaidi katika kundi lote la nyota. Nyota hizo ni Kaus Borealis, Kaus Media, na Kaus Australis - majina ambayo yanamaanisha sehemu za kaskazini, katikati, na kusini za upinde. Kaus Borealis hufanyiza sehemu ya juu ya chungu cha chai. Kaus Australis ni katika teapot <unk> chini kulia, na ni mwanachama mkali zaidi wa kundi la nyota. Na Kaus Media anainama nje kati yao. Nyota zote tatu ni kubwa - ni kubwa zaidi na zenye kung'aa kuliko Jua. Na ingawa wao ni vijana sana kuliko Jua, wao ni baadaye sana katika maisha. Hiyo ni kwa sababu wote ni kubwa zaidi kuliko Jua. Nyota nzito hutumia mafuta yao ya nyuklia upesi, kwa hiyo huungua upesi. Utaratibu huo husababisha tabaka zao za nje kupanuka, na hivyo kuwa na mwangaza zaidi. Kaus Media ni nyota ya mbali zaidi ya Arcturus, ambayo inamaanisha kuwa ni nyota ya ajabu zaidi kati ya nyota tatu, na ni zaidi ya mara elfu moja ya jua. Na ikiwa kuna upinde, lazima kuwe na mshale pia. Inafanyiza ncha ya nje ya mdomo wa chungu cha chai - nyota nyingine kubwa ambayo iko karibu na mwisho wa maisha yake. Maandishi ya Damond Benningfield