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Stars and Sticks| Abbreviation | Lyr |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Lyre (Harp) |
| Pronunciation Guide is based on “Pronouncing Astronomical Names,” published in 1943 by the American Astronomical Society. | LYE-ruh |
| Genitive The genitive is the Latin possessive form used in star names. For example, Alpha Orionis means “the Alpha of Orion.” | LYE-ree |
| Best Month | August |
| Visibility | Northern |
| Origin | AncientThese figures are rooted in the classical Greek and Mesopotamian traditions cataloged by Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD. |
| Author | PtolemyPtolemy, a 2nd-century Greco-Egyptian astronomer, cataloged the 48 classical constellations in his landmark work, the Almagest. These form the core of the 88 modern constellations recognized today. |
| Type | constellation |
| Difficulty | Easiest |
| Description | The Lyre of Orpheus is small but intensely beautiful, anchored by Vega — the fifth brightest star in the sky and the second brightest in the northern hemisphere, a dazzling blue-white star just 25 light-years away. When Orpheus died, his lyre was thrown into a river and Zeus sent an eagle to retrieve it and place it among the stars. Vega served as the primary standard for defining the magnitude scale of stellar brightness and was one of the first stars other than the Sun to be photographed, in 1850. Lyra also contains the Ring Nebula (M57) — one of the most photographed objects in the sky, a perfect smoke-ring of glowing gas expelled by a dying star, easily visible in a small telescope as a tiny bluish oval. |
| Asterism | The Parallelogram: A tight four-sided shape representing the frame of the lyre. |
| Meteor Shower | Lyrids |
| Peak Month | April |
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Monthly sky charts courtesy of What's Out Tonight? — Copyright ©2026 Ken Graun. Star charts are optimized for mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. Click a chart to view or download the PDF. For guidance on using the chart, or to purchase a planisphere and astronomy books, visit kenpress.com.
Images: NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/E. Slawik · IAU and Sky & Telescope · Stellarium — Full credits →
