Lyra in Constellation
A small but beautiful constellation, Lyra is one of the brightest in the northern summer sky and is flanked by Cygnus & Hercules
Contains the brilliant blue star Vega (Alpha Lyrae - pronounced ‘vēē’ ga – Arabic, ‘the swooping’), the fifth brightest in the sky at .03 magnitude
Vega forms one side of the ‘summer triangle’ asterism along with Deneb (Alpha Cygni) & Altair (Alpha Aquilae). This is a beautiful sight in our Maine sky
Sheliak (Beta Lyrae – Arabic, ‘harp’) is a ‘contact binary’ star system & the prototype eclipsing binary.
The Double Double (Epsilon Lyrae) is a quadruple star system whose components are also doubles – a terrific telescopic view and a good test of optics
Contains M57, the Ring Nebula – a planetary nebula and M56 a globular cluster