Okay, I cheated a bit this month, the Summer Triangle is not a true constellation, but an asterism. However, it is very prominent and, despite September marking the start of Autumn, is directly overhead come nightfall. So why not take a look?
Overhead at nightfall is an unmistakable grouping of three bright stars: Vega at the apex, Deneb in the lower left, and Altair in the lower right. Each one of these stars is alpha of a constellation: Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila, respectively. Also, there are two more tiny constellations, Saggita and Delphinus, thrown into the mix, too.
Starting with Vega is Lyra the harp. Just to the right of Vega is Epsilon Lyra, the famed Double Double. A look at this star under low power reveals it to be a double star. Under high power, each star is revealed to be a double in itself! While the Double Double is cool, the real highlight of Lyra is the Ring Nebula (M57), which is about as easy an object to find as there is as it is located half way between the base stars of the harp. In medium to large scopes, even at low power, the Ring reveals itself as a tiny, ring-like, puff of cosmic smoke, the remnants of a star in its final death throes.
Moving down to Cygnus, the headliner is the head of the Swan, Beta Cygnus, better known by its proper name, Alberio. A favorite double star for many, Alberio is an easy split with mall scopes or even medium to high power binoculars (provided you can hold them steady enough). With optical aid, the swan's head splits into a gold and smaller deep blue star for a truly stunning sight. While at Alberio, travel about half way up to the base of Lyra to find M56, a small globular cluster. feel free to crank up the power for this one. Moving to the end of the swan's upper wing is Delta Cygnus which, unlike Alberio, is a very challenging double star that will require at least 150x power for a clean split. Last but not least, Cygnus lies in the heart of the Milky Way, too.
Onto Aquila the Eagle for out next stop on our cosmic tour. If Delta Cygnus wasn't tough enough, why not try Pi Aquila, an extremely tight double star with less than a 2 arc second split! It can be done, but high power, good optics, and a steady sky are a must! For an open cluster that many people consider to be their favorite, move just past the eagle's tail to find the Wild Duck Cluster (M11), one of the tightest open clusters in the sky and one that is populated by blue and gold stars. Like Cygnus, Aquila is in the thickest part of the Milky Way, so grab those binoculars or drop in a low power eyepiece for wide angle Milky Way sweeps.
Delphinus, located below an imaginary Deneb-Altair line, is loaded with double stars. Most of the stars in the dolphin's body are doubles, and ones not overly difficult at that-perfect for people who own small telescopes.
Proving that big prizes come in small packages in Saggita the arrow, located above the same Deneb-Altair line. Just above the head of the arrow lies the appropriately named Dumbbell Nebula which, not surprisingly, looks like a hand weight (or hourglass, if you prefer). Like the Ring, the Dumbbell is the result of a dying star puffing off the still glowing layers of its outer atmosphere. Now, just below the middle of the arrow's shaft is M71, another smallish (but bigger than M56) globular cluster. Use medium to high power for this one.
One more last bit of business: located just above the tail of the arrow is the very cool Coathanger Cluster, a small grouping of stars that looks exactly like, guess what, a coathanger. Use binoculars or an extremely low power eyepiece for this one.
Yes, I cheated when it came to the September constellation of the month, but hey, who cares? Try packing this much good stuff into a single true constellation!
Clear skies to all.
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