Starwatch Newsletter Minnesota Starwatch is a tape-recorded message describing the night sky in the Midwest, which can be called by telelphone number (612) 624-2001 It is updated montly, and is produced by the Department of Astronomy, University of Minnesota 116 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Hello, this is Minnesota Starwatch for July, 2001.

The Summer Triangle will be prominent in the sky this month. The Summer Triangle is not a traditional constellation like Orion or Cancer, rather it is composed of three of the brightest stars in the sky, each from a different constellation. Vega, the brightest of the three, is a hot, blue star in the constellation Lyra. Vega will be almost directly overhead at midnight. Vega is a special star to astronomers. We use Vega as a fundamental standard for comparison when determining the brightness of other stars.

Next in brightness is Altair, in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle) to the South of Vega. Aquila is somewhat cooler and further away than Vega, but still hotter than our Sun. The third star in the Summer Triangle is Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus (the Swan) to the East of Vega. Deneb is about the same temperature as Vega, but much further away. It still looks bright to us because Deneb is a very rare, extremely luminous supergiant star. If Deneb were as close to us as Vega, it would easily outshine the planet Jupiter and be visible in the daytime.

Speaking of planets, Mars is still prominent in the South right after sunset. Mars is so bright because just last month it made its closest approach to the Earth in over 10 years.

The Minneapolis Planetarium offers a wide variety of programs for all ages. For more information, call (612) 630-6150.

For those interested in the Minnesota Astronomical Society, call (651) 649-4861 for information on their upcoming events.

Minnesota Starwatch is available online at http://www.astro.umn.edu/Outreach/pub_out.html.

This has been Minnesota Starwatch, produced by the University of Minnesota Astronomy Department in cooperation with WCCO Weather Center.

Last Updated: Mon Jun 18 10:25:05 2001