With the onset of dusk in clear weather, stars appear in the sky. Some are large and bright, others are small and dimmer. Since ancient times, the cold light of distant stars has attracted a person's attention, forcing him to gaze into the night sky. Over time, people began to group together clusters of stars, which were called constellations. One of them was named Swan.
Instructions
Step 1
The constellation Cygnus is a group of stars visible in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. Ancient tribes saw in it a flying bird with outstretched wings and called it simply "Bird", "Forest Bird" or "Chicken". In astronomy, this group of stars is also called the "Northern Cross".
Step 2
The Cygnus constellation is best observed from July to November. If you look at it with the naked eye, you can only see the four brightest stars. In this case, the group looks like a large cross crossing the Milky Way. In the case of observing Cygnus through binoculars with good magnification, several more stars become distinguishable. Mentally connecting them together, you get a figure that resembles a bird in outlines. The lower part of it is a head with a curved neck, and at the top there will be a tail.
Step 3
Cygnus Tail is the star Deneb or α-Cygnus, the brightest in the constellation. It is Deneb that is the reference point when finding the constellation in the night sky, and it is also part of the "Summer Triangle". If the Cygnus is observed through a telescope, then close to it you can distinguish the North America nebula, which is part of the constellation. Other equally colorful nebulae form the bird's wings, body, and long, curving neck. The Swan ends with the impressive double star Albireo, which symbolizes the head.
Step 4
Most likely, the constellation got its name thanks to one of the ancient Greek myths. One of them tells about the love of the god Zeus for the mortal girl Leda. According to legend, Zeus, in order to subdue the wife of King Tyndareus, turned into a beautiful white swan. In this form, he seduced the beautiful Leda, who soon gave birth to two children - Polidevka and Elena, the culprit of the ten-year Trojan war. Another version of the appearance of the Swan in the firmament speaks of Orpheus's love for Eurydice.
In the second century AD, the ancient Greek astronomer and thinker Claudius Ptolemy created the Almagest star atlas, which included 48 constellations visible from Alexandria, including the constellation Cygnus.
