![\"The](\"https:\/\/specials-images.forbesimg.com\/imageserve\/685806a4c37b3809b1ffd855\/The-summer-Milky-Way-overhead-and-through-the-Summer-Triangle-stars-in-July\/960x0.jpg?fit=scale\")
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The summer Milky Way overhead and through the Summer Triangle stars in July, looking up through trees in Banff National Park at Herbert Lake. (Photo by: Alan Dyer\/VW Pics\/UIG via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Universal Images Group via Getty Images <\/p>\n
There is no better way to round off a summer of stargazing \u2014 complete with a rare \u201cplanet parade<\/a>\u201d happening right now\u2014 than to see the Milky Way arc across the night sky. It\u2019s not always on show, but now is the perfect time, with a crescent moon out of the sky soon after dark this weekend. All you need to do is get yourself under dark country skies and look up. If you do, you\u2019ll find it seemingly trapped within three bright stars \u2014 the so-called \u201cSummer Triangle.\u201d<\/p>\n ForbesDon\u2019t Miss This Weekend\u2019s Pairing Of The Moon And A Red SupergiantBy Jamie Carter<\/a> Very high in the sky at this time of year in the Northern Hemisphere is a vast but simple arrangement of three very bright\u2014 but very different \u2014 stars. Crucially, it\u2019s where to look for the Milky Way if you are under dark skies.<\/p>\n The \u201cSummer Triangle\u201d \u2014 an asterism, not an official constellation \u2014 comprises Vega in the constellation Lyra, Deneb in Cygnus and Altair in Aquila.<\/p>\n The northern summer Milky Way through the area of the Summer Triangle, showing the change in colour as the Milky Way heads south toward the dustier regions around the galactic core. (Photo by: VW Pics\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Universal Images Group via Getty Images Vega is the brightest and highest this weekend. It\u2019s one of the most famous stars in the night sky and just 25 light-years distant from the sun. To the left of Vega, also very high in the sky, is Deneb, the 19th brightest star in the night sky. It\u2019s much farther away at 2,600 light-years. It\u2019s so bright because it\u2019s a supergiant star, 20 times the mass and 110 times the radius of our sun. It\u2019s one of the farthest stars that can be seen with the naked eye.<\/p>\n The lowest of the three stars in the Summer Triangle is Altair, the 12th brightest star in the night sky. Like Vega, it\u2019s bright because it\u2019s close, at just 17 light-years away from the sun. Also like Vega, Altair is about twice the mass and radius of the sun.<\/p>\n Forbes\u2018Planet Parade\u2019 On Friday: Five Worlds Set To Dominate Through OctoberBy Jamie Carter<\/a><\/p>\n Observing Tips<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve found those three stars, look between Deneb and Altair. You should make out a dense concentration of stars and, if you\u2019re under dark skies, dark bands within them. You\u2019re looking at the spiral arms of the Milky Way from within one. The collected brightness of billions of stars, the Milky Way streams between Deneb and Altair, and then down to the horizon in the south. Closer to the horizon, you may see the constellation Sagittarius, inimitable because of its easily recognisable shape \u2014 a Teapot. Those dark bands are vast dust lanes in the galaxy, blocking your view of stars behind.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t see the Milky Way and its dark bands? Stay outside longer to let your eyes adjust to the darkness \u2014 or get yourself under a dark sky. <\/p>\n What\u2019s Next In The Night Sky<\/p>\n Have you seen the \u201cplanet parade\u201d happening in the east an hour before sunrise? Jupiter and Venus dominate it, in terms of brightness, but Saturn in the south is also easy to see. Those three naked-eye planets are joined by Neptune (close to Saturn) and Uranus, though both of those outer planets are impossible to see with the naked eye.<\/p>\n For exact timings, use a sunrise and sunset calculator<\/a> for where you are, Stellarium Web<\/a> for a sky chart and Night Sky Tonight: Visible Planets at Your Location<\/a> for positions and rise\/set times for planets.<\/p>\n Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The summer Milky Way overhead and through the Summer Triangle stars in July, looking up through trees in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[582,18,19,17,1029,15543,133,451,16906,26747,26748,26749,26750],"class_list":{"0":"post-34368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-milky-way","13":"tag-night-sky","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-space","16":"tag-stargazing","17":"tag-summer-triangle","18":"tag-three-bright-stars","19":"tag-what-are-the-three-bright-stars","20":"tag-where-is-milky-way"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhere And When To Look<\/p>\n
\nWhat You\u2019ll See<\/p>\n