06/28/2022 – Ephemeris – Finding the celestial harp

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, June 28th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 32 minutes, setting at 9:32, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:00. The Moon is new today, and won’t be visible.

High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars. They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp. The bright star is Vega, the 4th or 5th brightest nighttime star*, and currently the topmost star of the Summer Triangle. To the Romans, the star Vega represented a falling eagle or vulture. Apparently they never made the distinction between the two species. It is a pure white star and serves as a calibration star for color and brightness. In the evening, it is the top-most star of the Summer Triangle. The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes. The form of the harp, in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise shell. Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the legendary musician Orpheus.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT – 4 hours). They may be different for your location.

*Vega’s rival for the fourth spot on the brightness list is Arcturus to it’s west. Wikipedia’s source says that Arcturus is slightly brighter. Stellarium’s source says Vega is brighter. The difference is a few hundredths of a magnitude. However, they are of different colors. Vega is pure white, while Arcturus is yellow-orange because it has a cooler surface temperature than Vega. Check them out for yourself.

Addendum

Animated Lyra finder chart. The lyre image not supplied by Stellarium but is from The World’s Earliest Music by Hermann Smith, Figure 60, A Project Gutenberg E-Book, and captioned “The Chelys or Greek Tortoiseshell Lyre”. The three names stars are the stars of the Summer Triangle in the eastern sky these evenings of late June. Created using Stellarium.

07/06/2021 – Ephemeris – Looking at the constellation of Lyra the harp

This is Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 6th. Today the Sun will be up for 15 hours and 26 minutes, setting at 9:30, and it will rise tomorrow at 6:05. The Moon, 3 days before new, will rise at 3:56 tomorrow morning.

High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars. They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp. The bright star is Vega, the 5th brightest night-time star. To the Romans, the star Vega represented a falling eagle or vulture. Apparently they never made the distinction between the two species. It is a pure white star and serves as a calibration star for color and brightness. In the evening, it is the top-most star of the Summer Triangle. The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes. The form of the harp, in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise shell. Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the legendary musician Orpheus.

The astronomical event times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan (EDT, UT-4). They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Animated Lyra finder chart. The lyre image not supplied by Stellarium but is from The World’s Earliest Music by Hermann Smith, Figure 60, A Project Gutenberg E-Book, and captioned “The Chelys or Greek Tortoiseshell Lyre”. Click on the image to enlarge it. Created using Stellarium and GIMP.

07/02/2013 – Ephemeris – Lyra the harp in Greek mythology

Ephemeris for Tuesday, July 2nd.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 29 minutes, setting at 9:31.   The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 2:45 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:02.

High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars.  They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp.  The bright star is Vega the 5th brightest night-time star.  To the Romans the star Vega represented a falling eagle or vulture.  Apparently they never made the distinction between the two.  It is a pure white star and serves as a calibration star for color and brightness.  The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes.  The form of the harp in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise-shell.  Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the great musician Orpheus.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Lyra as a tortoise-shell harp. Created using Stellarium and free clip art.

Annotated Lyra:

Magnified view of Lyra. Created using Stellarium.

07/12/2012 – Ephemeris – The constellation Lyra the harp

Thursday, July 12th.  Today the sun will be up for 15 hours and 17 minutes, setting at 9:26.   The moon, 2 days past last quarter, will rise at 1:50 tomorrow morning.  Tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:10.

High in the east at 11 p.m. can be found a bright star called Vega just above a small, narrow, but very distinctive parallelogram of stars.  They are the stars of the constellation Lyra the harp.  Vega, the 5th brightest night time star, is one of the twenty one brightest stars, called first magnitude stars.  The harp, according to Greek mythology, was invented by the god Hermes.  The form of the harp in the sky, is as he had invented it: by stretching strings across a tortoise shell.  Hermes gave it to his half-brother Apollo, who in turn gave it to the great musician Orpheus.  In binoculars, near Vega, two stars appear together.  They barely appear to the unaided eye as a single star, designated Epsilon Lyrae.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Summer Triangle and the constellation Lyra at 07-12-12 at 11 p.m. Created using Stellarium.

Closeup on Vega and Epsilon Lyrae. Created using Stellarium.

ε1 Lyrae is one of the stars of Epsilon Lyrae.  The pair can be split better than this image with binoculars.  Looking at the two with a good telescope and over 100 power can split each component into two more stars.  We amateur astronomers call it the “Double-Double Star”  Note too that Zeta (ζ) Lyrae is also a double star that can be split with a low power telescope.