The Summer Triangle asterism is one that stands out in the summer sky. This star pattern is
composed of three main stars: Vega, Altair, and Deneb, and it really stands out no matter what
type of sky you're looking at. If you're in a dark sky region or even if you live in an area with
lots of light pollution. So in this video we are going to explore what the Summer Triangle is, the
stars and constellations connected with it, and how we can find it in the sky. Welcome to Learn
the Sky, my name is Janine and I'll be your guide as we explore the sky one constellation at a time.
When looking for the Summer triangle asterism you want to look for the three brightest points in
the summer sky and then connect the dots into a triangle pattern. As you look at this photo
are you able to find the three brightest points? If you can this is what the pattern looks like
for the Summer Triangle, and the constellations that are connected to the Summer Triangle
include Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila, and we're going to look at these constellations in a little
bit more detail, but if you can find these three stars you're able to find these constellations.
The stars that are connected to the Summer Triangle are Vega which is the brightest one,
we have Altair, which is a part of Aquila and Deneb which is part of Cygnus, and I forgot to say Lyra
is the constellation that's connected to Vega. So we're going to get a little practice identifying
these different constellations, but just know that when you're looking at the summer sky try to find
the three brightest points and use it as a starting point to help you find other constellations.
Now we're going to zoom in and look at the constellations that are all part of the Summer
Triangle. So the first one is Lyra. Lyra is a really easy constellation to identify because of its
distinctive shape, and it has this really bright star called Vega. Vega is bright in our sky because
it's only 26 light years away. So Vega is the star that always stands out to me first because it
is the brightest, and from there I go ahead and look for this star pattern. Let's take a look at
another photo and are you able to identify Lyra in this photo? So look towards the top middle of
the photo. You should see the bright star Vega, and then find that pattern. It's right here
and right there. It kind of looks like a little parallelogram shape and then a little triangle
connected to it. I do have a video on Lyra so if you want to learn more about it go see that video.
The next constellation I want to point out is Cygnus. Cygnus makes a big cross in the sky, which
is its own asterism called the Northern Cross, but Cygnus is a bigger constellation and it represents
a swan. The tale of Cygnus is called Deneb and that's part of our Summer Triangle right here.
If we were to point out where Lyra is as well that's where it's located,
and then right here is Altair, although we can't see the entire constellation of Aquila. I do have
separate videos on all these constellations so if you want to learn more about them in detail go see
those videos. So if we are going to bounce ahead to our next constellation this one is Aquila. So
Aquila has the brightest star in it called Altair, and as you're looking at this photo if you can see
the brightest star then you're looking right at Altair, and it's represented as an eagle. I used
to really struggle seeing this constellation in the sky but now it's one that's really easy for
me to point out, and that's because I can find the Summer Triangle and Altair, and from there
you can find the wings of the bird that spread across the Milky Way galaxy. Now this is like one
of those expectation versus reality photos. Like most people may not see a gorgeous sky like this.
This might be a little more realistic and even that's difficult to see. So you really
want to try to find dark skies when seeing it, but Altair is right here, and then this is Aquila.
So I want to give you guys a little bit more practice with how to find the Summer Triangle.
So if we take a look at this photo, we're looking at most of the summer sky constellations. You can
see the Milky Way right here and it's concentrated in this region because that's where the center of
the Milky Way galaxy is. How do I know that? Because Sagittarius is right there and the heart of the
Milky Way is located in that constellation, but we're talking about the Summer Triangle. So are you
able to look towards the left side of the screen and find the three brightest stars and connect
the dots, and if you can that's what the Summer Triangle looks like, and no matter what type of sky
I'm in I'm always able to point out these three bright stars. So if we were to point out what the
constellations are, we have Aquila right here the eagle, and then we have Cygnus that is really quite
large and sits right in the Milky Way, and then we have Lyra here as well. So the stars are Vega, Deneb,
and Altair, and if we were to point everything else out in this star pattern or in this picture
we have Sagittarius which I mentioned earlier, Scorpius makes that giant hook in the sky, a
portion of Libra is here, Ophiuchus the serpent-bear and he is holding his snake right there,
and then Corona Australias is there. I often use the Summer Triangle to help me find Delphinus
as well. That's a really cute little constellation that's next to Aquila. So here is Aquila and then
here's where Delphinus is. So use these different strategies to help you find the Summer Triangle.
It really is one of the easiest things to point out in the sky. Now we're going to take a closer
look at some of the details of these stars such as size and distance. So as you're looking at this
photo hopefully at this point you can identify the Summer Triangle asterism. Just connect the three
dots of the brightest stars in this photograph. Here we have Cygnus and then we have Lyra and
then we have Aquila the eagle, but not the entire constellation of Aquila is in this photo only
just the head portion of the eagle. So we're going to start with Vega. Vega is a star that's about
twice the size of our sun. It's estimated to be 26 light years away and it's the brightest of the
triangle. Next we have Altair and Altair is closer at 16 light years away, but it's not as big as Vega
is. It is however bigger than our sun, about 1.7 masses of our of our own sun. So Altair is bigger,
it's brighter than our sun and it burns blue. So Deneb is our final star in the Summer Triangle,
and it represents the tail of the swan and this one is much further away at 2,600 light years away,
and then there's another star I wanted to point out to you. It's one of my favorites to view,
and if you connect the dots of the triangle and you kind of go right in the center this star is
known as Albireo, and that's the head of the swan. I have a whole video on Albireo mostly because
one it's this this gorgeous star right, as you can kind of see it's right in the center
of the triangle, well not right in the center but close to it, but I love Albireo because
it's this gorgeous optical double star in which you have this gold and blue star right next to
each other, so you can only see this with magnification, and for those of you that
watch my channel regularly you know I love this star because I named my cat after it. He
has a blue and a golden eye so that's why we named him Albireo. We call him Albie for short.
He's definitely one of those little hunter type cats. He's always outside bringing us back
presents. So be sure to use the Summer Triangle, which you can kind of still see in this photo.
Use the Summer Triangle to help you find Albireo, and ultimately if you can find this big cross
right here in the sky you know Deneb is the tail the swan, and Alberio is the head of the swan.
So just another way to help you use the Summer Triangle to help you find other stars
and patterns in the sky. We've come to the end of our video about this Summer Triangle asterism.
So let's review everything we've learned so far. It's best seen in the summer months in the
northern hemisphere, but I've seen this well into the fall months as well. So when you want to find
it you want to look for the three brightest stars that make a triangle shape in the sky.
Those bright stars are Vega, Altair, and Deneb and that's the order of brightness that they
go in as well. The constellations that are connected to the Summer Triangle include Lyra,
Cygnus, and Aquila. So I challenge you to go out and try to find this summer asterism, and
remember an asterism is not a true constellation but it's a smaller pattern or group of stars that
make a particular shape in the sky, and they're helpful because we can use them to help us find
other things in the sky. So I wish you luck trying to find the Summer Triangle. To me it's one of the
easiest things to find because these three stars stand out and even if you don't have a sky that
looks like this with the Milky Way shining through and so many stars you lose track of counting them,
you can still see this in an area that has lots of light pollution. For example the other evening I
was out and it was really misty out, but I could still see these three stars and I could still
figure which one was which because Vega is always the brightest, Altair is the second brightest, and
Deneb is the third brightest. So I was still able to navigate where everything was in the sky from
what I could see. So I wish you luck finding the Summer Triangle. Remember it takes time, patience,
and practice to view the stars. So keep going outside and as always keep looking up!