Northern Cygnus

[Denny]

[djm]

That was her swan song, while family crests ringed her fingers.

djm

[Caroluna]

The bright star at the top of today's picture is Deneb.

Deneb itself is the alpha star of Cygnus and is also known to northern hemisphere skygazers for its place in two asterisms -- marking the top of the Northern Cross and a vertex of the Summer Triangle.

I have been noticing this "constellation" for the last few years, but could not find it in any constellation chart.



The "triangle" is a little tilted in this picture, slanting upwards from left to right.

The first magnitude stars of the setting Summer Triangle are all seen in context: Vega in Lyra to the lower right, Deneb in Cygnus to the upper right, and Altair in Aquila at lower left.

This time of year it's very bright, and low in the west around midnight (I'm usually taking the dog for her last walk around the yard then).
For 3 yrs I've been wondering what this is!!!!

http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/summertri-p.html