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season: early-fall
section: what the stars are showing
---

- the summer triangle is still high but sliding west now
- pegasus the great square rises in the east, four stars marking an empty box of sky
- andromeda stretches from pegasus, and the andromeda galaxy hides in her, a smudge of light two million years old
- fomalhaut appears low in the south, a lonely bright star with nothing near it
- cassiopeia the queen climbs higher in the northeast, her W shape easy to find
- the milky way still crosses overhead but will fade as autumn deepens

fomalhaut was one of the four royal stars of ancient persia, marking the sky's seasons. they called it the "solitary one." it appears when the harvest comes.

the andromeda galaxy is the farthest thing you can see without a telescope. two million years of travel for that light to reach your eye. the old arabs called it "the little cloud." it is another galaxy the size of ours, coming toward us slowly. in four billion years they will merge.

cassiopeia was the vain queen who boasted she was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. the gods chained her to the sky. she circles the north pole forever, sometimes upside down. the old sailors used her and the big dipper together to find true north.