June has really been popping off when it comes to astronomical events, having brought us a delicious Strawberry Moon, a solstice, and an excellent opportunity to see the Milky Way’s glowing core in all its glory. But while the month might nearly be over, don’t take your eyes off the skies just yet – now’s an ideal time to see the “Summer Triangle”.
No, we don’t mean watching your kid haphazardly whack a triangular metal instrument at their grade school graduation. This involves saving your ears and treating your eyes with a bit of stargazing, as the Summer Triangle is a – you guessed it – triangular pattern of three brilliantly bright stars that becomes its most prominent during summertime in the Northern Hemisphere. Those stars are Altair, Deneb, and Vega, some of the brightest stars in the sky. Now is a great time to spot this trio, not only because they’re getting higher in the sky, but because we’ve just had a new Moon. Without the full brightness of the Moon, the night sky is particularly dark, creating the perfect conditions to spot some stars (although you’ll still be able to see them when the Moon’s brighter, too). The best way to make the most of these conditions is to head outside and then, ignore what Elphaba tells us in Defying Gravity and instead look to the eastern sky. Vega is probably going to be the easiest to spot, as it’s the brightest – and once you’ve caught it, look to the left for Deneb and below for Altair. If you’re not sure whether you’re looking in the right place, there are plenty of stargazing apps that’ll be able to give you a helping hand. After you’ve been sufficiently wowed by the wonders of the universe, it’s time to tell your pals all about what you’ve been up to – but don’t tell them that you’ve successfully managed to spot a constellation. The Summer Triangle is, in fact, an asterism. Whereas constellations are internationally recognized groups of stars, with defined boundaries in their regions of the sky, asterisms, on the other hand, are recognizable patterns of stars with no official designation. Besides the Summer Triangle, other well-known asterisms include the Plough, Orion’s Belt, and the Pleiades. The trio of stars within the Summer Triangle each belong to different constellations: Altair to Aquila; Deneb to Cygnus; and Vega to Lyra. Constellation vs asterism? That’s a nice bit of trivia to keep in your back pocket.
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