Cygnus

Abbreviation: Â Cyg
English Name: Â The Swan
Genitive:Â Deneb
Hemisphere:Â Â Northern Hemisphere
Location:Â Between the constellations of Cephus and Draco.
Visible between latitudes: Â +90 and -40 degrees
Best season: Autumn
Seen in three seasons:Â Summer, Autumn and Winter
Best seen in:  September
Seen between:Â May and November
Right Ascension (RA):  21 hour
Declination (DEC):  +40 degrees
Area (square degrees): Â 804 (16th)

Cygnus (The Swan)

• Feature constellation of Cygnus, often nicknamed “The Northern Cross”; its brightest star is Deneb (Magnitude: +1.3)
• Deneb forms one corner of the Summer Triangle, with Vega in Lyra and Altair in Aquila. (See the photo.)
• It lies in a rich part of the Milky Way.

Messier Objects

• M29 – Open Cluster; similar to the Seven Sister (M45), M29 is ten times farther away and is much less famous than The Seven Sisters.
• M39 – Open Cluster; Very large but very loose Open Cluster.

Features of Interest

• NGC 7000 – North America Nebula; large nebula, visible under dark skies with binoculars or a wide field eyepiece for telescope – also known as Caldwell 20 (C20), the astrophotography takes the image that resembles the outline of North America map.
• NGC 6826 – The Blinking Planetary; also known as Caldwell 15 (C15), is a planetary nebula – too bright with large telescopes to have the striking “blinking” effect seen with smaller telescopes.
• NGC 6992 – The Veil Nebula; left behind by the explosion of a massive star thousands of years ago – a large supernova remnant as left over to be seen today in Cygnus.
• Albireo – one of the great small-telescope showpieces in the sky; even low magnification views resolve it into a double star – brighter yellow star making a striking colour contrast with its fainter blue star. (Click me for location.)

Named Stars

• Deneb (Alpha Cyg)
• Albireo (Beta 1 Cyg)
• Sadr (Gamma Cyg)
• Gienah Cygni (Epsilon Cyg)
• Azelfafage (Pi 1 Cyg)
• Ruchba (Omega 2 Cyg)

Others

• Photo of the constellation;Â Cygnus, as it appears to the naked eye. (Lines have been added for clarity.)
• Sky Chart  –  Cygnus
• List of stars in Cygnus.

Back to The 88 Constellations Lists  page.