Globe at Night is an international citizen-science campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution by inviting citizen-scientists to measure & submit their night sky brightness observations.
Cygnus the Swan is easy to find as it flies south along the path of the Milky Way. It is easiest to spot by looking straight up and looking for the three brightest stars forming what is known as the Summer Triangle. The bright star in the lower left of this triangle is Deneb, the tail of the swan. By using this star and looking in toward the center of the triangle, you can now spot Cygnus.
Visible in: Northern hemisphere
Pegasus, the winged horse ridden by Perseus to rescue Andromeda from the sea monster Cetus is easiest to find during Autumn. The easiest way to find Pegasus is to look overhead and find the great square of Pegasus found adjacent to the milky way. This great square is the body of Pegasus and the body and head extend outwards.
Visible in: Northern hemisphere
Sagittarius the Centaur is most easily found looking South and following the Milky Way up in the Mid-Summer. It is easiest to spot Scorpius and looking just to the left and see that Sagittarius is pointing his bow and arrow at Antares the heart of Scorpius. The most prominent feature of Sagittarius is the arrangement of the body that resembles what many point out to be a teapot. The legs of Sagittarius extend below the teapot to the South and the cape extends in the opposite direction of his bow.
Visible in: Southern hemisphere
To find Grus, look directly south. You will see four bright stars making their way from left to right in the sky. These stars also happen to line up in brightness order. The brightest one, Sirius, will be somewhat higher in the sky than the other three, and is the farthest to the left. The next one to the right is Canopus, then Achernar. The fourth one is found in the constellation Piscis Austrinus, and is called Fomalhaut. Grus is found between the Achernar and Fomalhaut, and is located about 15 degrees lower in the sky than a line drawn between those two stars. Look for a triangle formed by Grus’ three brightest stars (the third brightest star is actually two stars), the two dimmer stars in the triangle may appear red. The triangle forms the body of the crane with Grus’ neck stretching out to the West, and the wings to the North and South.
Visible in: Southern hemisphere
Practice finding all the Globe at Night Constellations, when you are done practicing follow the 6 steps:
Globe at Night is truly an international campaign. Our Activity Guides, Postcards, and the data reporting webapp have been translated into many languages. These are all available to download from our Resources page.
Whether you use a smartphone, tablet or computer, you can submit your data in real time with our webapp - now available in 28 languages! Help us make 2021 a record year!
We invite you to join us as we discover the night together and learn about the harmful effects of light pollution and what we can do to embrace the dark and save the night. April 2-8, 2024. Learn more at idsw.darksky.org
See how your region is doing this year below. If you don't see very many data points, consider going outside tonight and contributing your own! Compare to other regions or previous years with our regional map generator.