The constellation Lyra is one of our favorite summer constellations. Its brightest star, Vega, is part of the “summer triangle” (along with Deneb in Cygnus, and Altair in Aquila.) Vega is important for another reason - due to precession, a process where the Earth’s axis “wobbles” like a spinning top, Vega will be our north star in about 12,000 years from now. (set your clock…)
As its name suggests, Lyra represents a lyre or harp. Its shape is formed by a triangle (with Vega at its tip) connected to a parallelogram. The star Zeta Lyrae joins the two shapes. The triangle is the harp’s handle, and its imaginary strings would be stretched over the parallelogram.
When we think of the constellation Lyra, the first thing that usually comes to mind is the impressive Ring Nebula, M57. But, have you ever seen “the other ring nebula” in Lyra? This is only one of several deep-sky beauties hidden in the small constellation.
Please join us on Sunday night August 3 at 9 pm EDT (0100 UT on August 4) when Sky Safari will tour the constellation Lyra. We’ll follow-up the live feature with an extended presentation, here. NOTE: Sky Safari: Constellation Lyra has been rescheduled to Monday night August 4 at 925 pm EDT (0125 UTC on August 5).
And, don’t forget your road map!
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Extended Presentation of Sky Safari: Constellation Lyra (Select “view on slideshare” for Full Screen option. The animations of RR Lyrae and Beta Lyrae, slides 18 and 34, can be seen in their active form on RonaldB’s Variable Star Animations page.
