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Jimmy Westlake: Cygnus takes center stage

Jimmy Westlake
Look straight up at about 9:30 p.m. this week to spot the three bright stars of the big Summer Triangle: Vega, Deneb and Altair. Deneb is the “Alpha” star in the familiar “Northern Cross” pattern, officially named Cygnus, the Swan. Cygnus lies right in the misty star clouds of the Milky Way.
Courtesy Photo





Look straight up at about 9:30 p.m. this week to spot the three bright stars of the big Summer Triangle: Vega, Deneb and Altair. Deneb is the “Alpha” star in the familiar “Northern Cross” pattern, officially named Cygnus, the Swan. Cygnus lies right in the misty star clouds of the Milky Way.

Vega, Deneb and Altair — these are the three bright stars marking the corners of the Summer Triangle, the most prominent star pattern of late summer. While not one of our 88 official constellations, the Summer Triangle is a very popular asterism and can serve as a guide to many real constellations of summer and fall.

Just go outside at about 9:30 p.m. and look straight up. There’s the Summer Triangle, right overhead. Vega is the brightest star of the trio, Altair comes in second and Deneb takes third place.

Deneb is the sparkling blue star that marks the northern-most corner of the Summer Triangle and is the brightest star in our constellation named Cygnus, the Swan. The name Deneb comes from the Arabic words for “the tail of the swan.” It is one of the highest wattage stars in our corner of the galaxy. If the star Deneb replaced our sun, at the center of our solar system, it would appear 80,000 times brighter than our sun does now … and we would all quickly become crispy critters.



The star Albireo, located near the center of the Summer Triangle, marks the Swan’s head and beak. Three other stars, Gienah, Sadr and Delta, form a straight line that intersects the line connecting Deneb and Albireo and marks the Swan’s outstretched wings.

Once you’ve located these five stars, you might be struck by their resemblance to a large crucifix. In fact, the popular name for Cygnus is The Northern Cross. The Northern Cross, however, is topsy-turvy from the Swan, that is, Deneb marks the tail of the Swan, but the head of the Cross and Albireo marks the head of the Swan but the foot of the Cross. As the Swan, Cygnus can be seen gliding down the Milky Way toward the south.



Aim a telescope at Albireo, and you will see two stars of remarkably beautiful contrasting colors. One is sapphire blue and the other a golden yellow. Astronomers aren’t certain whether their apparent closeness is real or merely a chance alignment. If these stars form a true binary, then they must require at least 100,000 years to complete an orbit.

Cygnus lays smack dab in the middle of the summer Milky Way, just north of the point where it splits into two parallel bands because of a dark interstellar dust cloud called the Great Rift. Within her borders can be found two famous nebulae, the North American Nebula, near Deneb, and the Veil Nebula, near Gienah. Slowly sweeping this constellation with a pair of ordinary binoculars will reveal many more star clusters and nebulae hiding in the rich star clouds of the Milky Way.

Professor Jimmy Westlake teaches astronomy and physics at Colorado Mountain College’s Alpine Campus. His “Celestial News” column appears weekly in the Steamboat Today newspaper and his “Cosmic Moment” radio spots can be heard on local radio station KFMU. Check out his astrophotography website at http://www.jwestlake.com.


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