Looking Up

Paul Luc Girard, special contribution 

Regular companions of our Summer nights are Deneb, Vega and Altair, the brightest stars of the CYGNUS, LYRA and AQUILA constellations forming the Summer triangle.

You can easily spot the triangle rising in the east an hour after sunset. The triangle spans a large area of the sky, a third up from the horizon, almost reaching the zenith.

As the night moves on, the triangle will be pointing directly towards the Sutton mountain range. See map. On darker moonless nights you will notice what looks like a cloud band crossing the Cygnus constellation, the Milky Way, an arm of our galaxy. Can you spot Delphinus, the Dolphin, left of Altair?

Returning to the observations suggested in the June Tempo, the moon will be passing very close to Saturn on July 7 and again August 2. Clear skies. Image from Wikipedia.