Ah, yes, the constellation series is back! I kinda forget why I choose to write the series in this order. Anyway, they are just my notes for constellations and probably I’m the only reader.

Today in our spotlight is Cygnus, the Swan.

Name: Cygnus

Abbr: Cyg

Chinese Name: 天鹅座

Brightest Star: Deneb (1.25 m)

Visibility: 90 N to 40 S, prime in summer and autumn

Cygnus features a prominent asterism known as the Northern Cross. You can also find a bright star, which is the most distant first-magnitude star, the tail of the Swan, one corner of the Summer Triangle: Deneb (Alpha Cygni, 天津四). The name Deneb comes from the Arabic name dhaneb, meaning “tail”, from the phrase.

The constellation Cygnus (labelled) as seen with the naked eye.
Cygnus as seen by the naked eye.

天鹅座中最亮的星是天津四，它和星官中的其他星星组成了牛郎织女的故事中，架在银河上的那座鹊桥。

Wide-field view of the Summer Triangle
Deneb is at the far left centre of the picture, at the end of the darker lane within the Milky Way.

Stories

Later Romans also associated this constellation with the tragic story of Phaethon, the son of Helios the sun god, who demanded to ride his father’s sun chariot for a day.

Phaethon, however, was unable to control the reins, forcing Zeus to destroy the chariot (and Phaethon) with a thunderbolt, causing it to plummet to the earth into the river Eridanus.

Phaethon’s close friend or lover, Cygnus of Liguria, grieved bitterly and spent many days diving into the river to collect Phaethon’s bones to give him a proper burial. The gods were so touched by Cygnus’s devotion that they turned him into a swan and placed him among the stars. It’s a copy and paste from Wiki

Credit

Most of the contents are summarized from Wikipedia. You can click the images to reach the source websites.