Earthsky Tonight—July 29, Summer Triangle and the smallest constellations
Posted By Gary Wamsley On July 28, 2010 @ 9:48 pm In Earth & Sky | Comments Disabled
Courtesy of EarthSky
A Clear Voice for Science
www.EarthSky.org [1]
[2]
[3]I pointed out the Summer Triangle earlier this month [4]. This famous pattern of stars is now at its best in the night sky. The Summer Triangle consists of three bright stars – Vega, Deneb and Altair – in three separate constellations. If you can find the Summer Triangle, you can use it to locate three of the sky’s smallest constellations: Vulpecula the Fox, Delphinus the Dolphin and Sagitta the Arrow.
EarthSky’s meteor shower guide for 2010 [5]
All three would be impossible to see from the city. Personally – true confession ahead here – I have never managed to identify Vulpecula in my 30+ years of stargazing. It is just so faint and so small!
On the other hand, the little constellations Delphinus and Sagitta are very distinctive. They are easy to see in a dark country sky, because both actually look somewhat like the objects/creatures for which they are named. Delphinus is supposed to be the Dolphin that carried a Greek poet – Arion – safely away from his enemies. Sagitta is sometimes considered to be an arrow shot from the bow of Hercules.
Our Summer Triangle series includes:
Part 1: Vega and its constellation Lyra [4]
Part 2: Deneb and its constellation Cygnus [6]
Part 3: Altair and its constellation Aquila [7]
Written by Deborah Byrd [8]
Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA/JPL [9]
CHANDRA Photo Album [10]
U.S. Naval Observator Astronomical Information cente [11]r
StarDate Online [12]
Sky and Telescope [13]
National Geographic [14]
Space Com [15]
Amazing Space [16]
The York County Astronomical Society [17]
Scope City [18]
Article printed from Recorder Online: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com
URL to article: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2010/07/28/earthsky-tonight%e2%80%94july-29-summer-triangle-and-the-smallest-constellations/
URLs in this post:
[1] www.EarthSky.org: http://www.EarthSky.org
[2] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2010/07/28/earthsky-tonight%e2%80%94july-29-summer-triangle-and-the-smallest-constellations/phasej29/
[3] Image: http://www.berthoudrecorder.com/2010/07/28/earthsky-tonight%e2%80%94july-29-summer-triangle-and-the-smallest-constellations/10jul29_430/
[4] earlier this month: http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/summer-triangle-vega-and-its-constellation-lyra-2
[5] EarthSky’s meteor shower guide for 2010: http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide
[6] Part 2: Deneb and its constellation Cygnus: http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/summer-triangle-deneb-and-its-constellation-cygnus-2
[7] Part 3: Altair and its constellation Aquila: http://earthsky.org/es-tonight/summer-triangle-altair-and-its-constellation-aquila-2
[8] Deborah Byrd: http://earthsky.org/author/deborahbyrd/
[9] Astronomy Picture of the Day from NASA/JPL: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/
[10] CHANDRA Photo Album: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/
[11] U.S. Naval Observator Astronomical Information cente: http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/astronomical-applications/astronomical-information-center/astronomical-information-center
[12] StarDate Online: http://stardate.org/
[13] Sky and Telescope: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/observing/ataglance/
[14] National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/
[15] Space Com: http://www.space.com/nightsky/
[16] Amazing Space: http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/tonights_sky/
[17] The York County Astronomical Society: http://www.ycas.org/tonights_sky.htm
[18] Scope City: http://www.scopecity.net/
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