Sagittarius is the Archer, a centaur drawing a bow, although most people now see the eight stars of the Teapot. Its brightest star is Kaus Australis, the southern end of the bow, and behind it, some 26,000 light years away, lies the centre of our galaxy. The Sun crosses it at the turn of the year, a month later than the horoscope’s Sagittarius, which is over before Christmas. The dates were fixed to the equinoxes more than two thousand years ago, and the equinoxes have slid a full constellation since.
The dates above are computed for 2026 from the constellation boundaries the International Astronomical Union fixed in 1930. They move by about a day every seventy years, so they are good for a lifetime, and for the particular day you were born the calculator will check the boundary itself.
