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Casting Stories into the Sky: this week on the Storyteller's Night Sky

In August the better part of the Milky Way is visible, arching over the dome of the night from northeast to southwest, passing over the top of the sky where we find the asterism known as the Summer Triangle.

The Summer Triangle is made of up three stars from three different constellations, including the blue-white star Vega, in the constellation Lyra; Altair, in the constellation Aquila, the eagle; and Deneb, the star that marks the tail of Cygnus, the swan.

The most gratifying thing about these three stars is that they show up during the evening twilight, and once you can find them, then you know where to look for the path of the Milky Way. It appears to us that Cygnus, the swan, is flying into the Summer Triangle from the North, wings outstretched as she flies along the Milky Way River of stars, very much like that ole Mother Goose, who, when she wanted to wander, would fly through the air on a very fine gander.

The precedent for imagining Cygnus as Mother Goose may come from the stars themselves. Here’s how:

According to Richard Hinkley Allen, writing at the end of the 19th century, there was a star that went nova in the vicinity of the beak of Cygnus in the late 1600s. At the same moment in the late 1600s, Charles Perrault published the very first tales attributed to Mother Goose.

So when you go out in the evening twilight this week, especially between 9 and 10 pm, before the Moon rises, look up to the top of the sky where first you’ll see Vega, then Altair to the South and Deneb to the North, clearly making a triangle like a mighty portal in the sky, open to receive all your very favorite rhymes and stories.

Mary Stewart Adams is a Star Lore Historian and host of “The Storyteller’s Night Sky.” As a global advocate for starry skies, Mary led the team that established the 9th International Dark Sky Park in the world in 2011, which later led to her home state of Michigan protecting 35,000 acres of state land for its natural darkness.