Monday,  May 21, 2012 • Vol. 12--No. 312 • 7 of 29 •  Other Editions

See one of the sky's most distant stars, Deneb

• Today's night sky chart presents the view toward the northeast in mid-evening in the month of May. As always, it's the view from mid-northern latitudes. It's by looking in this direction that you can get a good look at the bright star Deneb. This star is part of not one but two striking star patterns. And it's one of the most distant stars we can see with the eye alone, well over 1,000 light-years away.
• Deneb is part of the Summer Triangle pattern. Deneb - along with the stars Vega and Altair - is part of the famous Summer Triangle asterism, which will be

Courtesy U.S. Naval Observatory

well up in the east in mid-evening next month. On these Northern Hemisphere late spring evenings, you might not be able to see the whole Summer Triangle until later at night. The star Altair will be the last of these three stars to rise. But you can see the bright star Deneb to the lower left of Vega, the Summer Triangle's brightest star.
• Deneb is also part of a smaller, cross-like pattern. Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the

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