Constellation Profile - Lyra

The constellation of Lyra in the Northern Hemisphere is quite well known.  It contains the fifth brightest star in the night sky (Vega - Magnitude 0.03) and the second brightest star in the North.  Vega forms the brightest corner of the Summer Triangle and hovers directly overhead during the hot months.

Lyra was one of the original 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy during the second century and has endured these many years throughout astronomy texts.  Lyra is bordered by several other bright constellations.  Hercules, Cygnus and Draco all surround the diminutive Lyre.

Lyra was immortalized by the Greeks with the myth of the legendary harpist Orpheus.  Orpheus was a mythological musician and poet in Ancient Greece and received a Lyra from Apollo himself; who was possibly his father.  So great was Orpheus' power that he could charm all things with his music, including streams, rivers and stones.

Orpheus accompanied Jason and the Argonauts on their great adventure.  He used his skills to drown out the songs of the sirens with his beautiful music and saved the entire crew from certain death.

The tragedy of his life came with his only true love, Eurydice.  She was a nymph (minor Greek deity) and a women of exceptional beauty.  Orpheus loved her very much and played joyful music at their wedding.  At one point shortly after the wedding she stepped on a poisonous viper and perished.  So great was the sorrow or Orpheus that he continued to play such mournful music that all who listened were affected.  The gods instructed him to head for the underworld, certain death without divine protection, to retrieve his wife.  He reached the underworld god Hades and even charmed him with his music.  Hades and his wife Persephone were moved and allowed Orpheus to return with Eurydice on the condition he does not look upon her until they reach the surface.  A few feet from the surface Orpheus feared he was fooled and looked back.  He saw the shade of his wife return to the underworld for eternity.

Living a life of grief Orpheus met his death in a number of recorded ways.  It was said that his spurned suitors threw rocks and sticks at him but they could not hit him as the rocks and sticks loved his music too much.  Overwhelmed by his suitors and unable to charm he was torn apart.  The muses (his mother being Calliope, the muse of poetry and his singing instructor) carried his lyre to the heavens and his soul was reunited with Eurydice in the underworld.  The lyre in the heavens is said to represent the constellation Lyra.

The constellation mapping I performed on July 4, 2018 is shown below.

Lyra Observation Record

Vega is an important star in astronomy history.  It was the first star, besides our Sun, to have its spectrum recorded.  This was done by the American astronomer Henry Draper whose untimely death lead to the continuation of his work by many women at the Harvard College Observatory during the late 1800s.  Vega was the northern pole star at the end of the last ice age around 12,000 BC and will be once again in another 12,000 years.

Another one of my favourite stars is Delta Lyrae consisting of two visible companions.  Delta 1 Lyrae is a bright blue colour and Delta 2 Lyrae is a red giant.  These two stars form a beautiful contrast in colours through binoculars or a telescope.

Epsilon Lyrae is famously known as the double-double.  Two of the stars are easily resolved in binoculars.  The trick is that these two stars each form their own pair which can be seen through a good telescope and a still atmosphere.  The two tighter pairs are separated by only 2.5 arcseconds, making it a good optical challenge for many observers.

There are two Messier Objects found within the Lyre.  Messier 56 is a globular cluster located approximately halfway between Albireo (double star in Cygnus) and Gamma Lyrae.  The other Messier Object is M57, the famous Ring Nebula.  This is a beautiful sight in any telescope.  It lies right between Beta and Gamma Lyrae making it very easy to find.  A red giant star expelled its outer gas and became a white dwarf.  The gas is thus illuminated by this dwarf and shines as a planetary nebula.

M57 - Ring Nebula

There is also an assortment of other deep-sky objects found throughout Lyra that are quite dim and require a large aperture and/or dark skies to be able to locate.

M56

Lyra is home to several meteor showers with the most prominent simply known as the 'Lyrids'.  The Lyrids peak around April 22-23 each Spring and rates can reach upwards of 20 meteors per hour.  On occasion the Lyrids have been known to storm at more than 100 per hour every 60 years with the next suspected outbreak occurring around 2042.  An interesting fact about the Lyrids is they have been recorded back to 687 BC marking it as the earliest recorded meteor shower.