Get Outside What to Look for in the Summer Sky Your Hosts of the Summer Sky Are Three Bright Stars

Home , Cygnus (constellation), Summer Triangle

Get Outside What to Look for in the Summer Sky Your hosts of the summer sky are three bright stars — Vega, Altair and Deneb. Together they make up the Summer Triangle. Look for the triangle in the east on a June evening, moving NORTH to overhead as the season progresses. Polaris

The Big Dipper

Deneb

Cygnus Vega Lyra Hercules Arcturus EaST West

Summer Triangle Altair

Aquila

Sagittarius Antares Turn the map so Scorpius the direction you are facing is at the Teapot the bottom.

south

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Vega The Keystone The brightest star in the Between Vega and Arcturus, Summer Triangle, Vega is look for four stars in a wedge or The summer bluish white. It is in the keystone shape. This is the body solstice constellation Lyra, the Harp. of Hercules, the Strongman. His feet are to the north and Every day from late Altair his arms to the south, making December to June, the The second-brightest star in his figure kneel Sun rises and sets a little the triangle, Altair is white. upside down farther north along the Altair is in the constellation in the sky. horizon. But about June Aquila, the Eagle. 21, the Sun seems to stop Keystone moving north. It rises in Deneb the northeast and sets in The dimmest star of the the northwest, seemingly Summer Triangle, Deneb would in the same spots for be the brightest if it were not so Hercules several days. After the far away. It is actually 60 000 pause, the Sun travels times brighter than our Sun. south to reach another Deneb is the tail of the large standstill, or solstice, on or constellation Cygnus, the Antares about December 21. Earth’s Swan. The head of Cygnus Look directly south of Hercules, elongated orbit around lies between Altair and Vega. almost to the horizon, to find the Sun plus the tilt of Some people call Cygnus “the the supergiant orange-red star Earth’s axis produces the Northern Cross.” Antares, the heart of Scorpius. standstill effect. At each Farther south and east of solstice, Earth is rounding Antares, look for the creature’s one of the long ends of its Deneb nasty hooked stinger. orbit. As we swing around the end, neither Earth nor The Teapot the Sun seems to move. To the east of Scorpius but still The same standstill effect Cygnus well to the south, look for the occurs when you toss a ball outline of a teapot in the sky. in the air. The ball seems The stars that make the teapot to freeze at the top of your also make the eye, bow and throw before it falls back arrow of Sagittarius, down. the Archer. Once you have found the Summer Triangle, you can star hop to find … Sagittarius

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