How to find Lyra
When to look
June, July, August, September evenings
Face high overhead
A very bright white star, Vega, with a small slanted box of four fainter stars hanging beside it. Summer and early autumn evenings, high overhead; low in the north-west by December evenings. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 6 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Lyra is a small star pattern with a very bright star in it, called Vega. Next to Vega are four faint stars in a little box. Look straight up on summer nights.
Lyra is small but easy to find, because Vega, one of the brightest stars in the sky, is part of it. Find Vega high overhead on summer evenings, then look for a little slanted box of four fainter stars hanging beside it. Vega is also one corner of the Summer Triangle.
Vega is about 25 light-years away and spins so fast that it bulges around its middle. Earth's axis slowly wobbles like a spinning top, and in about 12,000 years Vega will sit near the north pole of the sky, a North Star of the future. The Lyrid meteors of April seem to come from close to Vega.
The stars in it
Vega, Epsilon, Zeta, Delta, Sulafat, Sheliak. The brightest is Vega.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face high overhead and look for: a very bright white star, Vega, with a small slanted box of four fainter stars hanging beside it.
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”