The summer triangle is a prominent pattern of stars that soars high in the northern summer sky. Marked out by Deneb in Cygnus, the swan; Vega in Lyra, the lyre; and Altair in Aquila, the eagle, these three stars feature in the Chinese folk story The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. The girl is Vega, the cowherd is Altair. They are separated by the great celestial river, the Milky Way.
Symbolised in the story by Deneb, the Milky Way is a joy to see. In the dead of a clear summer’s night, this misty band of light stretches through the middle of the summer triangle. It follows the line of brighter stars starting at Deneb, which represents the neck of Cygnus.
The Milky Way itself is the combined light of billions of stars in our galaxy that are so far away they cannot be seen as individual points of light with the naked eye.
With the summer triangle identified, try looking for the fainter constellations of Vulpecula, the fox and Sagitta, the arrow, in the body of the triangle. Then just off to the east is a little jewel of the night sky that never fails to make me smile: Delphinus, the dolphin.
