Altair

stars · night sky · summer triangle

Twelfth brightest star. Altair is the twelfth brightest star visible from Earth, which means it's incredibly luminous compared to other stars in our galaxy. You can actually see it with your own eyes on a clear night.

Located in Aquila. Altair is the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, which is Latin for eagle. The constellation's name fits because Altair marks the eagle's head in the sky pattern.

Part of Summer Triangle. Altair is one of three corners of the Summer Triangle, a huge asterism (star pattern) you can spot in summer skies. The other two bright stars are Deneb and Vega, and together they form an easy-to-find triangle.

Just 16.7 light-years away. Altair is relatively close to us in space at only 16.7 light-years from Earth, which means the light from this star takes 16.7 years to reach your eyes. That's one of the closest bright stars to our solar system.

Inside a space cloud. Altair is currently traveling through the G-cloud, a nearby interstellar cloud made of gas and dust floating between the stars. This cloud is like a giant cosmic neighborhood where our Sun's region of space is located.