Cygnus is a constellation that is filled with the wonders and
mysteries of space and that abounds in beautiful objects of varied
kinds. It is a region one never tires of exploring with the
telescope. The principal stars in Cygnus form the well-known Northern
Cross, with the beautiful, white, first-magnitude star Deneb, or
Arided, as it is sometimes called, at the top of the cross, and
Albireo, the orange-and-blue double star at the foot. Albireo,
among all the pairs of contrasting hues, has the distinction of
being considered the finest double star in the heavens for small
telescopes. This star marks the head of The Swan, as well as the foot
of the Northern Cross, and Deneb marks the tail of The Swan. A short
distance to the southeast of Deneb, on the right wing of The Swan,
is a famous little star, 61 Cygni, barely visible to the naked eye
and forming a little triangle with two brighter stars to the east.
This star has the distinction of being the first one to have its
distance from the solar system determined. The famous mathematician
and astronomer Bessel accomplished this difficult feat in the year
1838. Since that day, the distances of many stars have been found
by various methods, but of all these stars only four or five are
known to be nearer to us than 61 Cygni. Its distance is about eight
light-years, so its light takes about eight years to travel the
distance that separates it from the solar system. As a result, we see
it not as it is tonight, but as it was at the time when the light
now entering our eyes first started on its journey eight years ago.
61 Cygni is also a double star, and the combined light of the two
stars gives forth only one-tenth as much light as our own sun. Most
of the brilliant first-magnitude stars give forth many times as much
light as the sun; but among the fainter stars, we find some that
appear faint because they are very distant, and some that are faint
because they are dwarf stars and have little light to give forth. To
the class of nearby, feebly-shining dwarf stars 61 Cygni belongs.
Deneb, on the other hand, is one of the giant stars, and is at an
immeasurably great distance from the solar system.
Just south of Cygnus in the eastern branch of the Milky Way lie
Sagitta, The Arrow, and Aquila, The Eagle. Not far to the northeast
of Aquila is the odd little constellation of Delphinus, The Dolphin,
popularly referred to as Job's Coffin. There will be no difficulty in
finding this small star-group, owing to its peculiar diamond-shaped
configuration. Its five principal stars are of the fourth magnitude.
It is in the constellation of Delphinus that the most distant known
object in the heavens is located. This is the globular star cluster
known only by its catalogue number of N.G.C. 7006. It is estimated to
be at a distance of 220,000 light-years from the earth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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