Deneb , Alpha Cygni , is one of the brightest stars in the night sky and the brightest in the constellation Swan, with a stellar magnitude of +1.25. Deneb is a white supergiant star, 114 times larger in diameter than the solar one . It is located at an enormous distance, very difficult to pinpoint using the parallax method. The most recent measurements place it about 1,425 light-years from the Solar System . This huge gap is a measure of the brightness of this colossus, about 54,400 times brighter than the sun .
Summary
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- 1 Location
- 2 Mythology
- 3 Origin of the name
- 4 See also
- 5 Sources
Location
Deneb is located in the Constellation of the Swan, visible in the summer of the northern hemisphere. It can be easily located for its brightness and for being part of the so – called Summer Triangle , along with the stars Altair and Vega .
Mythology
In mythology, the Swan of the constellation represents several characters:
- To Zeus , who took this appearance to woo Leda, a union from which Helen of Troy was supposedly born .
- Being next to the constellation of the Lyre, the swan is said to represent Orpheus.
- Another beautiful story is that of Phaeton, Apollo’s son, who one day fell into a river while driving his father’s chariot. His brother tirelessly searched for him in the waters of the river, an act that the gods rewarded by giving him a place in the sky in the form of a swan.
Name’s origin
Deneb comes from the Arabic word dhaned , which means “tail”, alluding to the tail of the swan that represents the constellation.