The Hercules Family --- The Constellation of Sagitta The Arrow

Moving on to a fourth constellation in the Hercules Family we come to Sagitta The Arrow, which, despite its name, has no direct connection with Sagittarius The Archer. 

Classical Greco-Roman uranologists connected Sagitta to Hercules, saying that it was one of the arrows the demigod shot at an enemy in the course of his vaunted Labors, but that was the beginning and the end of Sagitta's place in mythology. Much later, it was associated with Cupid's arrow for no very good reason.

It is, however, an ancient constellation, known to the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians, the Indians and the Chinese, who all saw Sagitta as an arrow. Although Sagitta is dim and small, lacking any stars greater than third magnitude, it is isolated in the sky and hence prominent. The asterism has five main stars, three of which mark out the arrowhead and shaft, and two which represent the fly. 

Given Sagitta's size as the third-smallest constellation, it has some interesting deep sky objects, including the Necklace Nebula and the planetary Nebula IC-4997, which is only 700 years old.