Naked eye & binocular targets
See a cloud of stars and shells of gas produced by faraway dying
suns in the summer sky
Sagitta
Delphinus
Cygnus
Ly ra
Deneb(AlphaCygni)
Denebisoneofthethree
starsofthefamousSummer
Triangle.Itsnamemeans‘Tail
oftheSwan’,anditalsostands
attheheadofthewell-known
asterismtheNorthernCross.
Atmagnitude1.3itisthe
19th-brighteststarinthesky.
Itis1,400lightyearsfromthe
Sunandaround200,000-
timesmoreluminous.Vega(AlphaLyrae)
Icyblue-whiteVegaisthe5th-brighteststarinthesky
now,butin290,000yearsitwillbethebrighteststarin
theheavens.Only 25 lightyearsfromEarth– a next-door
neighbourincosmicterms– thisSummerTrianglestar
spinssoquicklythatitisflattenedatitspoles,likeSaturn.Altair
Only16.8lightyearsfrom
Earth,SummerTrianglestar
Altairisthe13th-brighteststar
inthesky.Spinningatmore
than 210 kilometres(130miles)
persecond,ittakestenhours
torotateonce,whichflattens
itintoaneggorovalshape.TheCygnusstarcloud
Runningdowntherightside
oftheNorthernCross,the
Cygnusstarcloudlookslike
a long,mistypatchoflight
tothenakedeye.Lookat
itthroughbinocularsand
youwillseeitismadeupof
countlessmillionsofglittering,
faintstars,allthousandsof
lightyearsawayfromEarth.TheRingNebula(M57)
The57thobjectinCharles
Messier’sfamouscatalogueof
deep-skyobjects,M57isthe
remainsofa deadstarthat
puffedoutitsouterlayers
manycenturiesago.Itiscalled
a planetarynebulabecauseits
ringlookslikea planet’sdisc
througha telescope.You’ll
needbinocularstoseeitasa
tinyblue-greenspot.Naked eye targets
STARGAZER
s
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