Cygnus and the Milky Way

Autumn brings us cooler evenings and earlier sunsets, but it’s not yet too uncomfortable to go outside and gaze up into the heavens for a look at our own galaxy, the Milky Way. The best way to enjoy this from a city setting is to get out to a place where you can lie flat on your back (on a blanket or lounge chair) and look directly overhead. In the evening the constellation Cygnus dominates the sky and is easy to find even with light pollution around you. Cygnus is also known as the Swan, as it resembles a giant swan flying gently toward the north-east and is also known as the Northern Cross, since its brightest stars outline a cross quite clearly. The brightest star of Cygnus is Deneb, a beautiful blue giant star that is one member of the Summer Triangle, an asterism that is made up of three of the brightest stars in the summer and fall skies. The diagram below shows the region of the sky directly overhead (zenith) with the three bright Summer Triangle stars identified in white, and the cross shape of Cygnus in purple.

Cygnus the Swan, or Northern Cross

Cygnus is directly in the band of stars of the Milky Way that we can see across the night sky. In dark conditions, the band of the Milky Way glows like a faint cloud but in the city that is unfortunately lost to light pollution. However, if you have binoculars or a telescope you can still enjoy the richness of the Milky Way by looking deeply into Cygnus where you will find many treasures that are quite accessible. I’ll cover some of those in a future post. For now, just see if you can get out and gaze up into Cygnus and into the elliptical arms of our own home galaxy. There are little gems and surprises awaiting you!

Image courtesy of Sky Safari.