How to Star Gaze
August 27, 2010, By Ty Wingfoot 0 comments
Warm summer evenings are made for outdoor activities like camping, cookouts or just relaxing on the porch or patio with a cold drink and your family or friends. One way to entertain kids, impress a date or simply pass the time is by pointing out constellations and planets or predicting shooting stars. Learn a little summer astronomy and start looking up.
The best way to begin finding constellations is to have a starting point. For summer astronomy, the best source for locating constellations might be what is known as the Summer Triangle. Watch for the first visible stars when the sun sets. The first bright star that you see to the east in June and overhead the rest of the summer should be Vega. Look southeast of Vega to find a star named Altair; to the northeast you should find another star, named Deneb.
The three stars will form a rather inverted triangle. Finding them will point you to several summer constellations. In fact, each star is a key player in its own unique constellation.The star Vega is part of the constellation Lyra, which means "lyre" or "harp." Vega is in the handle of the harp, and a small parallelogram of stars make up the instruments body. Lyra is best visible in the night sky during the month of August.
Look for two bright stars that line up with Altair in the middle and you have found part of a wing of Aquila, the eagle. Aquila is best visible shortly after nightfall during the entire month of August.
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