Zeta Sagittarii

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Zeta Sagittarii (ζ Sgr / ζ Sagittarii) is the third brightest star system in the constellation Sagittarius. It also has the traditional name Ascella from a Late Latin word meaning armpit.

Ascella is a binary star, consisting of a spectral class A2 giant with an apparent magnitude of +3.26, and an A4 subgiant with apparent magnitude of +3.37. The orbital period of the binary system is 21 years. The two stars have a mean separation of 13.4 astronomical units (AU) and the eccentricity of their orbit is 0.205. Ascella has a faint, 10th magnitude companion, Zeta Sagittarii C, separated from the primary by a distance of 75 arcseconds.

Ascella is 90 light years from Earth. The combined apparent magnitude of the star system is +2.60.

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