September/October Skywatch
Summer may be ending, but as strange as it seems, the stars of the Summer Triangle stay in our early evening skies until Christmas. These three easily identifiable stars are great guides to exploring this region of the sky.
Beautiful blue-white Vega is the Triangle’s brightest member and is the third brightest star visible from the Blue Ridge. It shines nearly overhead this time of year.
Altair twinkles at the southeastern vertex of the Triangle, and lies just east of the eastern “shore” of the Milky Way. At a distance of 17 light-years, it is the closest of the three.
Deneb sits in the Milky Way at the north end of an enormous and easily spotted dark nebula called the “Great Rift.” It is by far the furthest of the three stars — its distance can only be estimated as it lies within vast galactic dust fields, diminishing its starlight by an unknown amount. Some astronomers place it over 2,000 light-years from our little blue world!
Greet these three bright stars on a late summer or early fall evening and you’ll be friends for life!
The story above first appeared in our September / October 2025 issue. For more like it subscribe today or log in with your active BRC+ Membership. Thank you for your support!