The Summer Triangle (yes, I know it is fall)

I have a confession to make. I am starting to take my semi–light free night skies for granted. We have been living on the edge of the NYC metro area for over five years, having moved here from a urban town in New Jersey about 45 miles east. A few years ago, I got very interested in learning how to identify the different constellations in the night sky. During our summer visits to the northeast kingdom of Vermont, I had the perfect laboratory because of the light pollution free skies.

I remember the summer when the summer constellations seemed to jump out at me. The stars in the sky became a sanctuary, a sign of hope and comfort in troubled times. Among my favorites are three constellations, Cygnus (aka the Swan and also referred to as the northern cross), Aquila (aka the Eagle), and Lyra (aka the Harp). These three constellations are in the night sky during the summer into the fall. In the northern latitudes in the US, Cygnas is almost overhead in the sky at about 9 PM.

Each constellation has a bright star that is often viewable in urban areas on clear moonless nights: Denab in Cygnus, Altair in Aquila, and Vega in Lyra. These three stars form a triangle that while not a constellation is given the acronym, the summer triangle.

When we first moved out here, we spent many summer evenings sitting outside, listening to the ballgame on the radio, and looking at the night sky. Now the area where I live has less light pollution than the urban area where we used to live, but more than rural Vermont. Still, I can see many more stars than we could in our urban town. Instead of only seeing the summer triangle on clear moonless nights, I could see all major stars of Cygnus, Aquila, and Lyra. Now, I take it for granted, and I don’t revel in the stars and the sky the way I used to.

As I grew more accustomed to my life here, I spent less and less time outside. I have recently begun to feel like I have lost something by not stopping to spend a few moments gazing at the heavens. I am poorer for this. So I write this in this public space to make a commitment to myself. I am going to endeavor to spend a little more time outside on evenings to look at the sky. This is one of my ways of achieving serenity and inner peace.



Image courtesy of sky this week info