Summer triangle returns to northern skies this week
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- The summer triangle has returned overhead in the northern hemisphere, marking the season as one of the easiest star patterns to spot despite not being an official constellation
- Vega, in Lyra the lyre, is the brightest of the triangle's three stars and sits almost directly overhead from the UK during late July
- Deneb in Cygnus the swan lies north-east of Vega, while Altair in Aquila the eagle sits lower in the south-east
- The asterism frames the northern Milky Way, which reveals itself from dark sites as a pale band of light combining the glow of billions of distant stars in our galaxy
- From London at 11pm UK time on 27 July, the triangle sits high in the south-east and climbs higher through the evening; the view remains essentially unchanged all week
- Southern hemisphere observers can also see the triangle, but it stays in the northern sky and never climbs particularly high
- Binoculars reveal rich star fields within the triangle's boundaries for viewers at darker sites
Why it matters: Northern stargazers have a week-long window around 27 July to spot the summer triangle's three bright stars with the naked eye and, from dark sites, see the Milky Way's brightest sweep framed inside it — a no-cost seasonal marker that requires only binoculars for deeper views.
