LYRA

The lovely figure of Lyra (the Lyre) is seen rising (north is to the left) with brilliant Vega up and to the left of a small parallelogram of fainter stars. The eclipsing double star Sheliak (Beta Lyrae) is the upper right-hand corner of the parallelogram, while Sulafat is at the lower right hand corner. At the lower left-hand corner is Delta (which is separated into Delta-2, the brighter, and Delta-1); Zeta is just down and to the right of Vega. Epsilon Lyrae, the famed double-double star, is down and to the left of Vega, while R (13) Lyrae is the brighter star down and to the left of Epsilon. Aladfar (Eta) is the left-hand star of the pair that lies down and to the left of Delta. XY Lyr is immediately down and to the left of Vega. Vega is at the northwestern apex of the Summer Triangle. Lyra is home to the famed Ring Nebula (Messier 57), which lies between Sheliak and Sulafat. The constellation also holds the globular cluster M56 (in the lower right hand corner) and the famed variable RR Lyrae (near the lower left hand corner): see the labelled image. The constellation lies in the western edge of the Milky Way.

To see a labelled image, push the star:

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See an expanded view.

Lyra has a star with an orbiting PLANET.

See Lyra in context with Hercules, Ophiuchus, and Draco.

See Lyra from Flamsteed's Atlas Coelestis Edition of 1781.

By Jim Kaler. Return to STARS.