“The Sky This Week” appears every Tuesday. It is written by Ian Clarke, Director of the Hatter Planetarium at Gettysburg College. The planetarium offers regular educational presentations about the stars and the skies; there’s something for early elementary through adults. Public shows have concluded for the academic year, but we are still accepting field trip requests for the summer!
Last week we introduced the Summer Triangle of stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair. I mentioned that the Summer Triangle is not officially a constellation. Now let’s look at what constellations those stars actually belong to. Once again, to find the Summer Triangle right now, go out after it’s nice and dark and look east. Vega is the brightest star in a small constellation, Lyra the Lyre. In mythology, it’s most often associated with the lyre of Orpheus. Deneb is the brightest star of Cygnus the Swan. It marks the tail of the swan, while the star on the other end of the cross shape, Albireo, marks the head. Altair is the brightest star in Aquila the Eagle, seen by the ancient Greeks as a messenger of Zeus, or sometimes even Zeus himself in eagle form.
Ian Clarke is the director of the Hatter Planetarium at Gettysburg College. In addition he has taught introductory astronomy labs and first-year writing there for over 30 years (not necessarily all at the same time). He was educated at Biglerville High School, the University of Virginia, and the University of Iowa. He lives in Gettysburg.