If you look at the sky on a clear summer night, your head can spin from a huge number of stars. The vast expanse of space above our heads has long attracted to itself, beckoning with its secrets. For convenience, the entire set of stars is divided into constellations. When is the best time to observe each of them depends on its location. If you rise from the Earth into space, then it will be impossible to meet there something resembling a celestial pattern familiar to us from childhood. The objects that make up the constellations seem to scatter and cease to form a single whole. This is because any constellation is a projection of a section of the sky, on which all cosmic bodies are plotted, located here from the point of view of the observer. In reality, they may be thousands of light years apart.
One of the most famous celestial drawings is the constellation Cygnus. The flying bird pattern includes approximately 150 stars, several of which are among the brightest objects visible from Earth. Thanks to them, the Cygnus constellation is quite easy to find in the sky.
Observation
To many amateur astronomers since childhoodknow what the constellation Cygnus looks like. The stars that make it up lined up in a cruciform figure, resembling a large bird with an outstretched neck and outstretched wings. The silhouette gives an unambiguous answer to the question why the constellation Cygnus is called that.
The ideal time to see it is during the summer. However, the Swan is visible throughout the year. The easiest way to recognize it is by the many well-known asterism (a characteristic group of bright stars) "Summer Triangle". Part of it is a star in the constellation Cygnus called Deneb. Its other two peaks are Vega and Altair, one of the brightest points in the night sky. The constellation Cygnus for children and their parents who are fond of astronomy is also attractive because it stretched along the Milky Way.
History
The sky map known to us today was not always like this. Partly because the stars change their positions over time. This is especially noticeable in the case of cosmic bodies closest to us. For example, on the site of the North Star, once a very long time ago, more than 17 thousand years ago, there was already named above Deneb.
Another reason for the discrepancy between the celestial maps of the present and the past is the combination of different stars into groups. One of the first descriptions of the constellations dates back to 275 BC. e. It was created by the Greek poet Arat. This work was then revised by Ptolemy four centuries later. His Almagest contains a list of 48 constellations. One of them (Argo) was subsequently divided into three separate ones (Kiel, Stern, Sail, Compass), while the rest retained their name untilso far.
Today, scientists identify 88 constellations. The swan belongs to the ancient ones mentioned in Ptolemy's list. True, at that time he was known as the Bird. The history of the constellation Cygnus also includes a mention in the writings of the astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus dating back to the fourth century BC. The names of the stars in Cygnus remind us of the period when most of the sciences, including astronomy, developed in the East, in the Arab countries.
Star Bridge
The brightest star in the constellation Cygnus is Deneb, or Alpha Cygnus. In Arabic, its name means "tail". The designation is quite consistent with its location. Deneb adorns the constellation Cygnus (the diagram is shown below) precisely in the part where the tail of the bird is located. The object belongs to the white supergiants. The impressiveness of a star is well understood if we compare it with our luminary. Thus, the mass of Deneb is equal to twenty solar. The distance from Earth to Deneb, according to various estimates, is from 1.55 to 2.6 thousand light years. At the same time, it is clearly visible in the sky, since its luminosity is 270 thousand times greater than the sun.
As already mentioned, Deneb enters the Summer Triangle. A beautiful Chinese legend is connected with the stars in its peaks, in which Deneb acts as a bridge between lovers, represented in the sky by Vega and Altair. According to legend, it occurs once a year. Lovers can spend this night together. Then they will have to separate again for another year.
Crown
The opposite point of the constellation Cygnus from Deneb isAlbireo (beta Cygnus). She crowns the head of a bird. In order to understand what the constellation Cygnus looks like and where it is located, it is enough to find these two bright points. Albireo, like Deneb, can be seen with the naked eye. For those who decide to study it with a telescope, an even more interesting picture will open up. Albireo is a system of two stars. The largest of them, Albireo A, is an orange giant. Its companion is the blue Main Sequence star Albireo V. The star's name is Arabic for "chicken's beak".
Gamma and Delta Cygnus
The central point of the constellation is Sadr, which means "chest". It is the second brightest star. Sadr (Gamma Cygnus) is a supergiant belonging to the spectral class F8, with a pulsation period of 74 days. It is 12 times as massive as the Sun.
Following Sadr in luminosity is Delta Cygnus. It is a binary star system located at a distance of 170 light years from Earth. It is much more difficult to distinguish her than Albireo. Delta includes two stars located quite close, with an orbital period of 537 years. The first is a blue-white giant with a luminosity much higher than that of the sun. Its neighbor is a yellow-white star, less impressive in all respects.
Reference
Epsilon Cygnus or Jenach is a significant point not only on the map of the starry sky, but also in astronomical calculations. It is located at a distance of 73 light years from Earth. Translated, Jenah, or Hyenas, means "wing": the name gives an exhaustive description of its position in the constellation. It shines 62 times brighter than the Sun.
The special role of Jenah in science is that its spectrum is the standard for classifying other stars. In addition, it was on this space object that Neptune was discovered in 1846.
Northern Cross
The constellation Cygnus for children and adults is known by another asterism called the Northern Cross. It is formed by five described stars. At the base is Albireo, the top is Deneb, in the center of the asterism is Sadr, and on the sides are Jenach and the Cygnus Delta. These are the brightest points that make up the Cygnus. The constellation (the photo makes this clear) cannot boast of the bright glow of its other elements. Of course, five stars do not exhaust the interesting objects of the celestial bird. However, it is the Northern Cross that makes the Cygnus constellation so prominent. How to find it, usually they don’t even think: asterism is known to almost everyone.
Other "population"
Another interesting object in the constellation is 61 Cygni, a binary star system. It is made up of two orange dwarfs. Like Albireo, the system is visible from Earth and available for study. Its uniqueness lies in the fact that 61 Cygnus is one of the stars closest to the Sun (the distance from our star is 11.36 light years). In addition, it has a significant proper motion and belongs to a small number of similar objects visible from the Earth. 61 Cygnus is famous due to the opinion in astronomy of the middle of the last century that it had a planetary system. New data receivedsince then, the hypothesis has not been confirmed, but the star continues to be the focus of many scientists.
Another object of great interest is the black hole Cygnus X-1, located near 61 Cygnus. It is the brightest X-ray source in the constellation. Cygnus X-1 is identified with two objects: one of them is a bright blue star, the other is its companion, inaccessible to observation. Radiation occurs due to the flow of matter from a blue star into a black hole. In the process of moving, it is heated to enormous temperatures, and part of it is ejected into space in the form of two jets directed in different directions from the object. The status of a black hole Cygnus X-1 received in the 70s of the last century.
Nebulae
Stars are not the only objects in the constellation Cygnus. Its scheme also includes a dark area called the "Northern Coal Sack". This is an interstellar cloud of dust and gas located quite close to our Galaxy. There are also a number of nebulae. The complex of space objects, designated as the Veil or Network (NGC 6960 and NGC 6992), are the consequences of a supernova explosion that thundered 40,000 years ago. At the western edge of the Veil is the Witch's Broom Nebula, striking in its beauty in photographs taken with telescopes.
The brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, Deneb, boasts a neighborhood with two nebulae: North America (NGC 7000) and Pelican (IC 5070). Firstits outlines very strongly resembles the continent of the same name. Together with the Pelican Nebula, they span 50 light-years. From the Earth, they can be seen with the naked eye, provided that the observer is located in an area remote from urban and any other artificial lighting. They will appear as a small blurry spot in the northeast of the brightest star that Cygnus possesses. The constellation, the photo of which, along with all the nebulae, will be very interesting to be considered by absolutely everyone, is famous not only for its bright stars and other neighboring space objects. Thus, the image of a noble bird and the history of the appearance of the constellation were also reflected in ancient mythology.
Orpheus and lyre
Swan is the hero of many legends and tales. Both in our and in foreign culture, this bird was a symbol of beauty, purity of soul, art. Some myths also tell how the constellation Cygnus appeared in the sky. The legend, cited for children in high school history textbooks, is associated with the ancient Greek singer Orpheus. According to her, having gone to return his beloved Eurydice from the kingdom of the dead, he violated the ban on turning around on the way back and forever lost the opportunity to reunite with his beloved. Saddened, he wandered around the world for several years, remaining faithful to Eurydice and not letting other girls near him, for which he was known as a misogynist. Once, on the banks of the river Herb, he met a group of Bacchantes, worshipers of Dionysus. Recognizing Orpheus, they were inflamed with anger and tore him to pieces, throwing the singer's lyre and his head into the water. The gods of Olympus did not remain indifferent to the hero, who admired them with his talent. According to one version of the myth, the soul of Orpheus and his lyre were taken to heaven. This is how the constellations Lyra and Cygnus appeared, located next to each other.
Phaeton
There are several other myths that explain why today we can consider the constellation Cygnus. The legend tells of the son of Helios, the god of the Sun, Phaeton. A mortal, he wanted to prove his origin and begged his father to let him ride the sun chariot across the sky. Helios agreed. The proud Phaethon was unable to cope with the hot horses and fell out of the chariot into the river. On earth, Kykn, a devoted friend, searched for his remains for a long time. The gods, seeing how sad he was, turned him into a swan. In this form, he lived by the water. Wanting to perpetuate selfless friendship, Zeus placed the constellation Cygnus in the sky. The legend, in the center of which is a hero named Kykn, is also found in other variations. His name means "swan" in Greek.
Options for the origin and death of Kikna
The hero, later turned into a noble bird, in different myths was the son of one or another god. Born from Apollo, Kykn drowned in the lake, which was later called Kykney. As the son of Poseidon and Kalika, he is found in the pages of legends about the Trojan War. According to legend, Achilles killed him, and his father turned Kyknos into a swan. The third option tells that his parents were Ares, the god of war, and Pelopia. The legend tells of the excellent skill of Kyknus to control the chariot. He liked to call oncompetition of all guests visiting the house. Victory invariably remained with Cycnus until Hercules became his rival. He surpassed the son of Ares and wounded the god of war himself. Zeus was forced to intervene. As a result, Kykn was turned into a swan.
Crucifixion
Later epochs filled the constellation Cygnus with their meaning. Its scheme on the maps of the 17th century and later was often replaced by the image of the crucified Christ. Not the last role in such an identification was played by the asterism of the Northern Cross, which is clearly visible from the Earth. Its correlation with the crucifixion was also found in earlier documents. In the treatise of St. Gregory of Tours, dated 592, a description of the Grand Cross is given, indicating its relationship to the constellation Cygnus. According to the saint, it was located between the letters alpha and omega, "written" by the stars Dolphin and Lyra, respectively. Such symbols corresponded with a quotation from the revelation of John, in which the resurrected Christ calls himself Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
Interestingly, the image of the crucifixion again refers us to Orpheus. According to some scholars, the Christian Romans, at the dawn of the new faith, borrowed the symbol of the crucified god from the pagans, who depicted Orpheus in this way. This assumption again links the constellation Cygnus, the myth of the singer and the biblical legend with a single thread.
Starry space, striking in its beauty and invariably attracting not only the views, but also the thoughts of people, in ancient times forced the wisest to seek an explanation for all this magnificence. The constellation Cygnus isa vivid example of how the need to comprehend the inaccessible cosmos with the help of artistic means was expressed in poetry and legends. Perhaps, if the views of the ancients had not been set forth in legends and myths, we would not have learned about them even half of what is known today.
Modern people are also not without a desire to understand what is behind the many bright points of the night sky. Behind strict scientific calculations, one can see a dream to comprehend the secret of the cosmos, to know its laws and an intuitive understanding of the impossibility of accommodating all its vastness into the human mind. Pictures of the Hubble telescope and its "colleagues" clearly show how close to the truth the ancient poets were in understanding the beauty that lies above our heads. Looking at the photographs, it is not hard to believe that among the sparkling splendor of stars and nebulae, any gods would not disdain to live.
