In the last episode we saw how to find the three bright stars of the “summer triangle”. Now let’s try to recognize the constellations they are part of and learn a bit about them Describing what you’ll see in the sky with just words is a challenge. It would be better if I could draw them on the sky for you with my fancy green laser pointer, but let’s try. The Moon will be out of the evening sky this week, so the sky will be dark. Put on some bug spray, get a lawn chair, and set up away from trees and outside lights. Cut out the attached article image or a printed July sky map from https://skymaps.com/skymaps/tesmn2307.pdf and use a red flashlight to retain your night vision. All set? Now settle into your chair and look straight up.
Vega is the brightest of the three summer triangle stars, and is almost directly overhead an hour after dark. (The name Vega means “swooping” in Arabic. They saw this constellation as a vulture!) Vega is in the constellation Lyra, the Harp. To see it as a “harp”, look for this small constellation as a parallelogram of dim stars close to Vega and downward toward the southeast. Think of the long sides of the parallelogram as the strings of a harp.
Cygnus, the Swan, is to the left and down from Lyra. It’s a bigger grouping of stars. Most people see Cygnus an the “Northern Cross”. Deneb is the top of the cross (left) and represents the tail of the swan. (Deneb means tail in Arabic.) The chest and long neck of the swan is a line of stars pointing toward the south. The wings of the swan are at right angles to this line. If it’s dark enough to see the milky way, the swan is flying southward imbedded in this river of dim stars.
The third constellation of the summer triangle is Aquila, the Eagle. Aquila is below and to the left (east) of Lyra and Cygnus. The bright star Altair (Flying Eagle in Arabic) is between two medium bright stars making a line of three. Aquila’s wings extend outward from this line of stars and the eagle’s body and head are down and to the south.
I hope you were able to make out these constellations from the map and my description. I’d be interested to know if you were able to discover these star patterns from my description. When I first learned to find Aquila 70 years ago, I connected the stars differently. I still see it as a Star Trek communicator instead of an eagle! Do whatever works for you.
I’ll return with some of the myths about these star patterns, but if you want to know more now, I recommend the book 365 Starry Nights. It’s in the county library under Dewey catalogue number 523. The summer triangle stars and constellations are discussed with pictures on pages 128-150. There are some great multiple stars and nebulae for binoculars in this part of the sky. If you have friend with a telescope, see if they’ll set it up. Keep looking up and enjoying our Cosmic Neighborhood.
For questions or comments: James Hill, Mississippi NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador. jhill6333@gmail.com.
