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• Normally, Sheliak and Sulafat are equal in brightness. But when one of Sheliak's stars eclipses the other, Sheliak is the fainter star. Find brilliant Vega first tonight, then Sheliak and Sulafat. See if Sheliak looks fainter than Sulafat.
• By the way, in our western skylore, the constellation that contains all these stars - Lyra - represents a Harp. In Greek mythology, Lyra was associated with the myth of Orpheus, the musician whose music was so sweet that the king of the gods, Zeus, placed both Orpheus and his harp in the night sky. Lyra was also known as King Arthur's Harp (Talyn Arthur) and King David's harp. It was known to the Romans as Tympanum (drum) and Canticum (song).
• In our modern times, the star Sheliak keeps a beat of its own -- not a musical beat, but a visual one -- as this variable star's brightness waxes and wanes in a way that's regular and observable.
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