Eyes Full Of Stars

As darkness falls, we find an easily recognizable pattern of stars well placed in the evening sky. Known as the Summer Triangle, this seasonal favorite straddles the Milky Way with three bright stars at each corner.

Of the three, Vega is most brilliant and is the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the harp. With a distance of approximately 25 light years, Vega is what astronomers call a main sequence star fusing hydrogen to helium deep within its core. Our Sun is also a main sequence star, but because Vega is more massive, it evolves at a greater rate. So, its main sequence period will be much shorter than the 10 billion years expected for our star. Many thousands of years ago, Vega was the north star. It will be again when Earth’s wobble, or precession, shifts the North Celestial Pole toward Vega.