The only warmth on a November evening horizon is the Teapot in Sagittarius.
See the end note about enlarging illustrations.
The Milky Way is the steam rising from the Teapot’s spout, which is no wonder since the spout is close to the center of our galaxy, a hot spot indeed.
All this exemplifies the distinction between the Apparent and the Real, which runs through the opening chapters of the Astronomical Companion.
The star marking the spout is about 100 light-years from us; the center of the galaxy, about 26,000.
The constellation is apparent, an area of sky containing features which appear angularly close from our viewpoint but are not grouped closely to each other in space. The Teapot is an asterism, a grouping that is perceived but is not used academically to define an area.
And it, and the stories about steam and milk and the arrow aimed by the archer, exemplify a third level, built on the real and the apparent: the narrative or symbolic.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
ILLUSTRATIONS in these posts are made with precision but have to be inserted in another format. You may be able to enlarge them on your monitor.
One way: right-click, and choose ”View image” or ”Open image in new tab”, then enlarge. Or choose ”Copy image”, then put it on your desktop, then open it. On an iPad or phone, use the finger gesture that enlarges (spreading with two fingers, or tapping and dragging with three fingers). Other methods have been suggested, such as dragging the image to the desktop and opening it in other ways.
Sometimes I make improvements or corrections to a post after publishing it. If you click on the title, rather than on ‘Read more’, I think you are sure to see the latest version. Or, if you click ‘Refresh’ or press function key 5, you’ll see the latest version.
Cosmic peace-inducing perspective. Thank you, Guy!
We are so lucky to live during a time when all these levels of meaning can be known and considered in relation to one another. I would add that other cultures and traditions have their own stories about the sky. Our good fortune obliges us to sustain and transmit all these stories to future generations. It’s easy for knowledge to be lost.
Guy, I enjoy reading your blog. Thank you for mentioning in another recent email that the 2026 edition of the astronomical calendar will be the last one. I believe somewhere in my memory files I have a copy of the first one from the 1970s! So of course I ordered a hardcopy of next year’s calendar. What a treasure it has been over the years. Thank you for all the work you do, for the astronomical community and for the world!
And thank you, Susan. I am cheered by memories of you and Furman,