NEW How to Find Cygnus the Swan Constellation

Welcome to Learn the Sky. I'm your guide Janine Bonham and we release new videos every Tuesday exploring the sky one constellation at a time. If you're new to this channel, click the subscribe button and hit the bell for notifications. If you'd like to support this channel, visit our Patreon link listed below. And finally, if you'd like to learn the sky in greater detail, visit learnthesky.com to access free lessons and join our email list to learn about seasonal class offerings. Welcome, my name is Janine and in this video we will learn about the constellation known as Cygnus. Cygnus is a constellation that dates far back in time and like many stories of the stars, there are various tales that tell us how these stars came to be there. For over a millennia it has been represented as a bird. Cygnus was officially identified by Ptolemy as one of his 48 constellations in the 2nd century, but it was recognized long before Ptolemy's time. Its legacy is continued today as one of the 88 modern constellations. Let's begin with a broad overview of Cygnus. It's an ancient constellation that's often associated with the Greek myths about Zeus in Western culture. The name Cygnus is Latin for swan and it was recorded as one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations in the 2nd century, which was the authority in astronomy for many centuries. What's interesting about Cygnus is that the first black hole ever detected was in the boundaries of this constellation and it was labeled Cygnus X-1. So when can you see it and what does it look like? Cygnus is best seen in the northern hemisphere during the late summer and early autumn months. The best way to find it is to look for the summer triangle asterism. The star Deneb, which is the tail of the swan, is part of this asterism. I'm pointing it out right here. This is the summer triangle. The summer triangle is made up of Vega, the brightest star in Lyra constellation, and then Deneb, which is in Cygnus. This right here is Altair in the constellation of Aquila. You can't see Aquila in this picture, however. You can only see two of the constellations that are part of the summer triangle. If you want to learn more about asterisms, go see that video. Cygnus sits within the portion of the Milky Way galaxy. You want to be able to look for cloudy patches in the sky, but this is really only if you are in a dark sky area. If you live in an area with lots of light pollution, you're not really going to see the Milky Way galaxy, so try to seek out those dark skies so you're able to see it. Sometimes Cygnus is identified as another asterism called the Northern Cross. The Northern Cross is just a smaller pattern within the larger constellation of Cygnus. Next, we'll review the star pattern that Cygnus makes across the skies and get some practice with how to identify this star pattern. Here, we have the official star map released by the International Astronomical Union. Here, you can see all the other constellations that border Cygnus. The main ones to find are Lyra right here. We can identify Lyra easily because it has that bright star Vega. Also, Cepheus is close by as well as Draco. So, those are the constellations I look for when trying to find Cygnus. However, this big cross-like shape in the pattern of Cygnus makes it really easy to identify. If we were to zoom in and get a closer look at the pattern here, you can see this main cross pattern is that Northern Cross asterism I was talking about earlier. Here is Lyra with that bright star Vega and then this star right here is known as Deneb. It represents the tail of the swan. Another star right here is called Albireo. There's a video coming up on that soon and that represents the head of the swan. Now, we're going to take a look at a few pictures and get some practice with identifying Cygnus. So, when you go outside, you're able to point it out in the sky. As you're looking at this photo, what stands out to you? Where are the brightest stars in this photo? For me, what I see is this big cross-like pattern. That's part of Cygnus. It's not the entire constellation, but a good portion of it. So, if we were to point out what the star pattern looks like, this is what the pattern of Cygnus looks like in the sky. What I want you to notice as well is the Milky Way is seated behind the star pattern here. So, we've got some really interesting celestial objects that are throughout this constellation's boundaries. Also, this is the portion known as the Northern Cross as well. So, I pointed that out for you here. Let's get some more practice looking at more pictures. The more pictures you find, the easier it will be for you to identify this constellation. So, can you see the Northern Cross asterism within this picture? It's really obvious. It just goes right across there. So, this isn't the whole constellation of Cygnus, but when you go outside, this is the part of the constellation that's really going to stand out to you. I've got another really great picture here that shows us the Summer Triangle. The Summer Triangle asterism is really what you want to use to find Cygnus. So, can you point out the three brightest stars in this picture? If you can, you're on the right track. So, right there, there, and there. The brightest star of the Summer Triangle asterism is Vega. Then, we have Altair right here. Go see the video on that star. It's a pretty interesting one for sure. Then, this one is Deneb. It's represented as the tail of the swan. What I love about this photo is that the Milky Way is really shining through here. This is a longer exposure photograph, so that's why the features in the background really come through in this type of photograph. That's why some of these stars look really bright as well. So, if we were to point everything out, because when you're learning this, sometimes you need a little assistance with finding the pattern. This is what I'm trying to get you to see. You have Cygnus right here, the long neck of the swan. You have the tail of the swan, and then the wings branch out to the side. You also have Lyra here that has that bright star, Vega. That's the brightest star of the Summer Asterism Triangle. Let's take a look at a few more pictures to give you more practice with finding Cygnus. In this photo, hopefully the three stars stand out to you that are a part of the Summer Triangle Asterism. If you can find those three stars, go to the brightest, the second brightest, and then the third brightest would be the tail of the swan in Cygnus. If we were to point this out, we have Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Here are where the constellations are. I only marked out a portion of Cygnus, not the entire thing, but you can always try to get some practice finding the other stars in this constellation. Also notice that it sits right within the Milky Way galaxy. We've got one more picture here to help give you some practice. When you're looking at this photo, you're looking at a big portion of the summer sky. We have Sagittarius here, we have part of Ophiuchus here, and you're seeing the brightest parts of the Milky Way galaxy. Can you draw your eyes to the brightest stars? If you can, that's where the Summer Triangle Asterism is right here. We have Vega, we have Altair, and then here we have Deneb. This is where the Northern Cross Asterism is, or Cygnus is this broader area right here. Again, it's not seated in the brightest part of the Milky Way galaxy like over here, but it still sits within the Milky Way. If you're in a dark sky area, you want to be able to look for that feature. Now let's take a look at some of the celestial objects that sit within the boundaries of Cygnus. I'm giving you fair warning here, there is a lot to cover and we're not going to cover everything in this video. We'll have a separate video for all the objects that are seated within Cygnus. As you take a look at this constellation map, you can see the Milky Way is these purplish areas. Since Cygnus sits within the Milky Way area, there are a lot of celestial objects to see such as stellar nurseries, we have a planetary nebula, there's also different star clusters. This right down here is a very interesting old supernova remnant. Let's zoom in and take a closer look. The two star clusters that are worth trying to look for are M39 and M29. Both of these are open star clusters. There's quite a few nebulae and these are just a few of them. We have the Cocoon Nebula, North America Nebula, the Blinking Nebula, the Crescent Nebula, and this right here is one of my favorite objects to study called the Cygnus Loop, sometimes called the Veil Nebula. If we were to zoom in, this is a really large supernova remnant. It's estimated to be 2,500 light years away. Scientists will zoom up on these particular areas to learn more about the motion of the gas that was left over from this supernova remnant. It is still expanding and scientists are continually studying this area. There's also another area called Cygnus X. This is known as a stellar nursery that's estimated to be 4,600 light years away. There's also a galaxy called Cygnus A. This is the first galaxy that was ever detected by radio waves. It's pretty far away, estimated to be 730 million light years away. Of course, you can't talk about Cygnus without mentioning the black hole that's within the boundaries of this constellation. Cygnus X-1 was the first black hole that was ever detected. It's estimated to be 6,100 light years away. This is an x-ray version of what this area looks like. We have since gathered two different pictures of what black holes look like, but the way we detect them is through x-rays. Like I said, we're going to do a whole other video on all the different celestial objects, probably not all of them, but the main ones because there's just so much to see and it's very very interesting. We've come to the end of our video about Cygnus the swan, so let's review everything we've learned so far. It's best seen in the summer months and it's classified as a seasonal constellation. The best way to find it is to use the summer triangle asterism. You can also look for the large cross shape in the sky that sits right within the Milky Way galaxy. The bright stars of this constellation are Deneb, which was represented as the tail of the swan, and then the head of the swan is known as Albireo. There are lots of celestial objects that sit in the boundaries of Cygnus because the Milky Way is seated behind it. There's lots of star clusters, nebulae, there's a galaxy, and even a black hole, which was the first one ever detected. If you need some help trying to find this constellation, that's where it is. Just try to find that big cross-like shape in the sky. Cygnus for me is one that's fairly easy to find because the main stars in the cross are of fairly equal brightness, so it makes it easy to point out in the sky. I also can easily point out Vega in the constellation of Lyra, which also makes it easy to find. Remember, anytime you go out stargazing, it takes time, patience, and practice. Keep going outside, keep looking up, and try to find these star patterns and go on your own journey of what it is that you see when you look up. Each of us sees something a little bit different and has a different experience, so I encourage you to keep going outside and of course keep looking up.