[Contents], [Among the stars]

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August: Cygnus, the swan

Cygnus is said to be a swan flying along the summer Milky Way. It has the shape of a cross, and according to mythology it is the form that god Zeus took when he seduced the beautiful Leda.

Deneb, at the top of the cross, is one of the brighterst stars known and it forms one corner of the Summer Triangle (with Vega and Altair).

Cygnus has many other treasures, although they require a telescope or excellent binoculars:

• Albireo (Beta Cygni) in the foot of the cross, or head of the swan, is seen as a beautiful double star in a small telescope. The components are 34 arcseconds apart: one is yellow, the other is blueish.
• The North America Nebula is a great glowing cloud of reddish gas made to shine by the light of Deneb, not far away.
• The Veil Nebula is a curving fragment of gas produced by a prehistoric supernova. This can be seen in an 8-inch or 10-inch telescope.

Try a one- or two-minute time exposure with color film in a camera mounted on a tripod pointing at the top of the cross of Cygnus on a dark summer night. You will be amazed at the nebulae and Milky Way star clouds you will capture on film.