daylight saving time or DST), when it appears due south as seen from the Northern Hemisphere or due north as seen from the Southern Hemisphere. However, about half a year later – on July 1 – the Teapot climbs to its highest point for the night around midnight (1 a.m. The Teapot is highest in the evening sky in Augustīecause the sun passes in front of Sagittarius from about December 18 to January 20, the Teapot isn’t visible then. Gaze into the midst of this “steam” – into the thickest part of it – and you’ll be gazing toward the center of our Milky Way galaxy. Once you’ve found the Teapot, assuming you have a dark sky, you can see “steam” billowing out of the spout. And just be sure to head to a dark sky for your best views of this Milky Way region. That’s because, the Teapot appears to have a handle, spout and lid, as any earthly teapot would. On the other hand, the Teapot – unlike many star patterns – looks like its namesake. But good luck spotting the centaur in these stars.

The constellation of Sagittarius is supposed to be a centaur, a mythical half man/half horse creature, carrying a bow and arrow. Really, they are stars in our Milky Way galaxy. In a dark sky, you can see clouds of “steam” ascending from the Teapot’s spout in this region. The center of the galaxy is located between the Tail of Scorpius and the Teapot of Sagittarius. Want a more exact location for Sagittarius? Try Stellarium, which will let you set a date and time from your exact location on the globe. The Teapot and Sagittarius are best viewed during the evening hours from about July to September. If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere, look overhead.

If you’re in the Northern Hemisphere, look southward on August evenings a couple of hours after sunset. You can see the Teapot even if you can’t see the starry band of the Milky Way. You’ll want a fairly dark sky to find the Teapot (a suburban sky will likely work, if you’re not standing under a streetlight). It’s called Sagittarius A* (Sagittarius A-Star). As a matter of fact, it has some 4 million times the mass of our sun. A supermassive black hole lies at the galaxy’s heart. You’ll find it southward on August evenings for us in the Northern Hemisphere, and overhead from the Southern Hemisphere.Įven if your sky isn’t dark, once you find the Teapot, you can use it to guide your mind’s eye to the star-rich center of our galaxy. Once you spot it, it’s easy to imagine as an earthly teapot. Plus, in that direction, you’ll find a famous asterism called the Teapot, in the constellation Sagittarius. In fact, the band of the Milky Way gets broader and brighter in the direction toward the center. On August evenings, all of us on Earth can gaze toward the galaxy’s center in a dark sky.

We’re not in the galaxy’s center, but instead about 2/3s of the way out from center, in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms. Our Milky Way galaxy is a vast collection of hundreds of billions of stars.

And we’ve marked the winter solstice point, where the sun resides around December 21. The green line marks the ecliptic, or sun’s path across our sky. The Teapot asterism in the constellation Sagittarius marks the direction in our sky to the center of our Milky Way galaxy.

Star chart for specific date