Believe it or not, we still have some summer constellations in the evening sky.

The same constellations that soared nearly overhead in the warm months of summer are about to make their exit in the western sky.

Our Earth in its orbit around the sun is turning away from the birds of summer, namely the constellations Aquila the Eagle and Cygnus the Swan as well as the little constellation Lyra the Harp are all heading for the celestial exits. At the start of each evening these constellations are perched a little above the northwestern sky. By the start of 2006 though, they'll be pretty much at or below the horizon and won't appear in the evening sky until next June when they'll be on the rise in the east.

Just look in the western half of the sky for a triangle of the three brightest stars you can see. This is known as the Summer Triangle and all three of these stars are the brightest in their respective constellations. The highest one is Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, making a crash swan dive toward the western horizon. Deneb, a giant star more than 3,000 light years away resides at the tail of the falling celestial fowl. By the way, just 1 light year equals almost 6 trillion miles!

The star on the lower left corner of the Summer Triangle is Altair, positioned at the heart of Aquila the Eagle. Most of the rest of this constellation shaped like giant a sideways diamond may be a little hard to see since it's so low in the sky.

The brightest star of the Summer Triangle is Vega, on the lower right corner. The light we see from this star we see tonight originally left that star about the time Ronald Reagan became President in 1981. Vega is also the brightest star in the tiny constellation Lyra the Lyre, which is an old-fashioned harp. Look for four faint stars that you can barely see with the naked eye to the left of Vega that form a small parallelogram and that's supposed to outline a diminutive harp in the sky.

Now it seems appropriate this week of Thanksgiving when most of us will be sitting down with our families to take on the big bird on the dining room table, that two of the three of the fleeing Summer Triangle constellations are also birds. That wasn't always the case though. Actually, as late as the time of the American Revolution, all three of the summer constellations were seen as birds. Lyra the Harp was actually pictured as an Eagle clasping a small harp in its beak. In fact, more than 2,000 years ago ancient India saw what we see as Lyra the Harp as a Vulture. Many Arabic cultures about the same time saw the constellation as a desert eagle.

Make sure you give thanks this week for everything and everybody you love on this earth and all the treasures in the starry skies. While you're gazing in the heavens after you down that Thanksgiving turkey, fighting off the sleepy effects of the triptaphene, look to the west and say a final farewell to summer, or at least the birds of summer, all three of them!

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