August Constellations

Home Show Names This view spans most of the sky as seen on summer nights in the mid-northern latitudes just as the sky gets good and dark. If you are familiar with the big dipper, you'll see it's distinctive pattern in the northwest, already getting close to setting. Several very bright stars are visible in other parts of the sky - at first glance, you might think it would be easy to confuse them, but look closer; one of the stars, just west of straight up, is definitely yellowish in color. It is attached to an large group of stars that looks like an ice cream cone. Continued... There is one other star with a color you may notice - in the south, a very orange star which is very distinctive because of its color and its being part of a curving string of bright stars. Looking high up in the east, you'll see three bright stars, all white in color. This group is known as the 'summer triangle', and locating it is a good start to learning the stars at this time of year.

To see the constellation names and read more about them, click on "constellations in depth", below. Home Constellations in Depth