Constellations · Constellation · Cygni · Cyg
Constellation
Cygnus
The swan flying south down the Milky Way, its body the Northern Cross. Here the first black hole was found.
- Genitive
- Cygni
- Area
- 804 square degrees · 16th of 88
- Brightest star
- Deneb · magnitude 1.25
- Naked-eye stars
- 274 brighter than magnitude 6.5
- Highest at midnight
- late July
Myth
Zeus in disguise, visiting Leda; or Orpheus, placed in the sky beside his lyre.
Look for
At the swan’s beak, Albireo splits in a small telescope into gold and blue. At its tail, Deneb is one of the most luminous stars you can see with the naked eye.
Discovery
In 1838 Friedrich Bessel measured the distance to the faint star 61 Cygni — the first distance to any star. In 1971 Cygnus X-1 became the first black hole to be widely accepted.