The Summer night sky is filled with bright, distinctive constellations that are fun to find, and some of them lead to other discoveries if you know where to find them. It’s also Milky Way season. If you live in or travel to places with sufficiently dark skies, you can see a segment of our home galaxy stretched across the entire night sky.
If you’re unfamiliar with the constellations, download a free stargazing app. Turn down the screen brightness and put it in night shift mode for a reddish screen instead of blue to preserve your night vision. It can take up to half an hour for your eyes to fully adjust to the dark, so take care not to ruin it with a bright screen, a camera flash, or a white flashlight. Opt for a red light flashlight instead.
SAGITTARIUS
Sagittarius sits low along the southern horizon during the summer. The full constellation is a centaur (half man, half horse) according to some European traditions, but there is a smaller picture of stars within it that looks like an archer. A popular way to visualize Sagittarius is as a teapot. To the east is the handle, to the west is the spout, and it has a pointed lid. The whole thing is tipped, and there is steam rising from the spout that floats across the entire night sky. That “steam” is the Milky Way. When you look toward Sagittarius, you’re looking toward the core of our galaxy.
SCORPIUS
Scorpius is just west of Sagittarius, and when viewed from the Northern Hemisphere, it looks just like a giant scorpion. You’ll notice a reddish colored star called Antares, which is often called the heart of the scorpion. When Mars and Antares are in the sky at the same time, they look very similar. Antares actually means “not Mars” or “rival of Mars”, as Ares is the Greek god of war and the Greek name for the planet Mars. The Polynesian cultures in the Southern Hemisphere see Scorpius “upside down” from what we see, and they envision it as a fishhook. If you ever saw the movie Moana, think of Maui’s hook…that’s Scorpius.
AQUILA
Aquila is the Latin word for “eagle,” and was indeed seen as a bird in various cultures. Its brightest star is Altair, which people often mistake for an incoming airplane in the early summer because of its low spot on the horizon. Altair is one of the closest bright stars to Earth at just 16.7 light-years away, making it relatively nearby in cosmic terms.
CYGNUS
Cygnus is a hen in Arabic tradition, and they gave us the name of the brightest star, Deneb, which means “tail.” Deneb was the tail of the hen, but it’s also the tail of the swan in ancient Western traditions. From really dark locations, Cygnus looks like it’s flying along the stream of the Milky Way, wings outstretched to either side of it. If you stand facing North, you might see Cygnus as a cross.
HERCULES
Hercules looks like a misshapen box with arms and legs going every which way. His name is derived from the Greek hero Heracles, the son of Jupiter, and is often depicted kneeling over Draco the serpent. It’s the fifth-largest constellation in the night sky, and those with a telescope can hunt for some cool deep space objects, such as globular clusters and a planetary nebula.
BONUS: SUMMER TRIANGLE
Astronomers and stargazers use the Summer Triangle to find the region of the Milky Way. The triangle is made of three stars in three different constellations. Look for Deneb in Cygnus, Altair in Aquila, and Vega in Lyra. The Milky Way cuts right through this triangle.
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