If our monsoon weather permits viewing in the early evening, look overhead around 9:30 p.m. to see Lyra the Lyre with its bright star Vega.
Lyra represents the golden lyre given to Orpheus by Apollo the god of music. Orpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greece.
Lyra, although small, upholds the myth, because as it is an easily recognizable constellation. The main portion of Lyra is a parallelogram of four bright stars.
Just above (north) of the parallelogram is Vega, the fifth brightest star in the sky and the brightest star in the Summer Triangle of Altair, Deneb, and Vega. Vega has a blue-white color and is 25 light years away.
An important star for study, a large disk of gas and dust surrounds it with planets possibly in this disk. Jodie Foster made Vega a celebrity when her character in the movie “Contact” visited a planet near Vega.
