Night Sky Photography -- 08-11-2023 -- The Summer Triangle & The Northern Cross

Good evening, fellow stargazers! 

Now that we're well into summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, the three bright stars that make up the Summer Triangle asterism can easily be spotted overhead late in the evenings.

The three bright first-magnitude stars: Vega, Deneb, and Altair are all easily visible to the naked eye and make up the brightest stars of their respective star constellations. Vega is the brightest star of the small Constellation Lyra the Harp. Deneb is the brightest in the Constellation Cygnus the Swan. Altair is the brightest star in the Constellation Aquila the Eagle.

I captured a good pair of shots outlining the bright stars that make up the vertices (or corners) of the Summer Triangle, as well as the major stars of the three star constellations that make up the asterism. I highlighted the constellations as well as the two asterisms that make up both the Summer Triangle and the Northern Cross respectively.

Here are some interesting facts about the three main stars in the Summer Triangle and the Northern Cross. 

Altair, in the Constellation Aquila, is a A-type main-sequence star only about 16.7 light-years (or 5.1 parsecs) away from our Sun, making it one of our nearer interstellar neighbors. 

Vega, in the Constellation Lyra, sits only 25 light-years (or 7.7 parsecs) away and is the 5th brightest star in the night sky -- the second-brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere after Arcturus. 

Deneb, in the Constellation Cygnus, is the 19th brightest star in the night sky and the head of the Northern Cross. The bright blue-white supergiant star is believed to be somewhere around 2,615 light-years (or 802 parsecs) distant from our Earth and estimated to be around 200,000 times as bright as our own Sun! This makes Deneb one of the most distant stars visible from Earth with the naked eye.

The Northern Cross itself consists of the six brightest stars in Cygnus: Deneb, Sadr, Gienah, Delta Cygni, and Albireo. Albireo appears at the head of the Cygnus the Swan, and serves as the base of the Northern Cross.

Well folks I hope y'all enjoyed my photos. Be sure to leave a comment below and have a wonderful Dixie evening, and be sure to keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!