| Look to the north Mid evening in October, if you are | | | | star Albiro, a lovely contrasting golden yellow & |
| in the southern hemisphere or almost overhead if | | | | Sapphire blue pair that can be "Split" even with a |
| you are in the northern hemisphere and you will see | | | | small telescope. |
| the distinctive triangle formed by the 3 bright stars | | | | The next star at the base of the Triangle is Vega in |
| of Altair in Aquila "the Eagle", Deneb in the tail of | | | | "Lyra the harp", Vega became well known from the |
| Cygnus "the Swan" and Vega at the heart of "Lyra | | | | Film "Contact" as the point of first contact with the |
| the harp". | | | | aliens! What it does in fact hide is the delightful "Ring |
| The first thing that will leap out at you from this | | | | Nebula", which is best seen with a scope of 200mmm |
| Asterism of the triangle (an asterism being a group | | | | in mirror size or bigger. It can be found 1/2 way |
| of stars that make a shape but do not form a true | | | | between the 2 stars of the Parallelogram in Lyra, |
| constellation) will be Cygnus the Swan, looking at first | | | | furtherest away from Vega. This dusty smoke ring is |
| glance like a cross. It measures an outstretched hand | | | | the remnant of the dying star at its center. |
| span on its long axis, held at arms length, and so is | | | | Aquila the Eagle at the top of the Triangle is the |
| hard to miss, with Deneb at the bottom of the tail. | | | | brightest star in this constellation & the 13th |
| One of the Jewels of Cygnus is arguably the most | | | | brightest star in the sky at Magnitude .75 and only 5.3 |
| beautiful double star in the night sky at the head of | | | | light years away it is just down the celestial road. |
| the swan, or the bottom star of the Cross | | | | There are many more delights to be discovered in |
| depending how you see it. It is the beautiful binary | | | | and around these constellations. |