During the heart of summer three bright stars make a large, noticeable triangle in the sky (Vega, Deneb, and Altair). This Summer Triangle can be seen even from the most light polluted skies. Although it makes a nice urban constellation, each star is really part of its own heavenly picture.High up in the sky is bright, blue Vega. Vega is where the aliens from the movie Contact were calling from. Not too far away (only 25 light years), Vega is part of the constellation called Lyra the Harp. Lyra looks like a small parallelogram.
Down and to the left is dimmer star called Deneb. Deneb is a whopping 3,000 light years away - making it the farther bright star you can see. This is the tail of the swan, the constellation Cygnus. Cygnus is also called the North Cross because, well, it looks like a cross jutting into the center of the Summer Triangle. These stars actually look like a swan.
To the right is bright, white Altair. Altair is the head of the constellation Aquila, the Eagle. Although the Eagle might be tough to imagine from the stars, Altair is easy to find because it has two dimmer stars bracketing it. And it's so bright because it's only 17 light years away.Over the next few weeks we'll take a closer look at each constellation in the Summer Triangle and the many myths behind them.
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