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Wednesday, July 1, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Stars over Sisters
By Paola Mendoza
Correspondent
In July the warmer
weather and increasingly lon-
ger nights combine to make
stargazing a perfect activity
with which to spend your
time. Now, if we could only
find a way to start observing
earlier in the evening and get
to bed at a more reasonable
hour, it would be ideal.
Of course, doing away
with daylight saving time is
the obvious solution, but that
probably won9t happen any-
time soon.
One of the most recog-
nizable constellations in the
summer sky is Cygnus, the
swan. It is the 16th-largest
constellation in the sky, using
up 804 square degrees of the
celestial sphere. Appearing to
fly along the Milky Way, the
heavenly bird will be nearly
overhead at midnight by
mid-July.
Cygnus is bordered by
Cepheus to the north, Lyra
to the west, Vulpecula to the
south, and Lacerta to the east.
Its brightest star is Deneb, a
blue-white supergiant that is
the 19th-brightest star in our
sky lying about 1,550 light-
years from Earth. Deneb
marks the swan9s tail while
Albireo denotes its head.
Reopening
moves the
needle on
labor market
The movement into Phase
1 of COVID-19 reopening in
Central Oregon moved the
needle for the regional labor
market. The unemployment
rate improved slightly in May
as many workers on tem-
porary layoff began getting
called back to work.
The seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate in
Deschutes County dropped
to 16.3 percent in May, down
from 18.3 percent in April. An
additional 3,068 workers were
employed in May compared
with April. The rate remains
significantly higher than this
time last year (3.9 percent).
Deschutes County added
1,680 jobs in May on a season-
ally adjusted basis. Roughly
11 percent of the jobs that
were lost in April were added
back in May.
Total nonfarm employment
remains down by 13.9 per-
cent from this time last year
(-12,120 jobs). The largest
losses continue to be seen in
leisure and hospitality, down
6,160 from last year (-45.6
percent). Other hard-hit sectors
include professional and busi-
ness services (-1,470 jobs);
government (-1,460 jobs);
health services (-810 jobs);
and retail trade (-750 jobs).
But Cygnus is also known
as the Northern Cross. In this
case Deneb is the top of the
cross while Albireo repre-
sents its base. It is interesting
to note that the cross seems
to stand upright just above
the northwestern horizon
near Christmas time.
Deneb is the northern-
most member of the Summer
Triangle. The other two stars
that complete the triangle are
Vega in Lyra and Altair in
Aquila. Besides serving as
the head of the swan or the
bottom of the cross, Albireo
is regarded by many observ-
ers as one of the finest and
most colorful double stars in
the heavens.
Although Cygnus con-
tains only two Messier
objects (open star clusters
M29 and M39), the con-
stellation is rich with many
more deep-sky treasures.
One of the most prominent
of these is NGC 7000, the
North America Nebula, so
named because of its striking
resemblance to the continent
of North America. Classified
as an emission nebula, this
region of interstellar gas and
dust is in the process of form-
ing thousands of new stars.
The nebula is large, span-
ning an area of the sky equal
to more than four times the
size of the full moon and lies
about 1,400 light-years from
Earth.
There are many myths
about Cygnus and one of
the most popular has to do
with Leda, wife of King
Tyndareus, and the god Zeus.
Zeus became infatuated with
Leda so, in order to seduce
her, he would turn himself
into a swan. Leda eventu-
ally bore two sets of twins.
One set, fathered by Zeus,
were Pollux and Helen of
Troy, who were immortal.
The mortal twins, Castor and
Clytemnestra, were born of
the union between Leda and
her husband King Tyndareus.
On July 4 the earth will
reach the point in its orbit
that is farthest from the sun,
known as aphelion. At that
time our home planet and
the sun will be 94.5 million
miles apart.
The two largest gas giants
in our solar system officially
become evening objects this
month when they reach oppo-
sition: July 14 for Jupiter and
July 20 for Saturn. When the
earth is directly between a
superior planet and the sun
(opposition), that planet can
be seen all night, from dusk
until dawn the next morning.
Both Jupiter and Saturn will
rise earlier as the summer
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The North America Nebula (so name because of its resemblance
to the continent that bears its name) is an emission nebula in the
constellation of Cygnus.
progresses.
The three remaining vis-
ible planets, Mars, Mercury
and Venus, occupy the morn-
ing realm. Near the end of
the month Venus in Taurus
and Mercury in Gemini can
be seen at dawn just before
sunrise.
The moon lies in extreme-
eastern Libra near the bor-
der with Scorpius on July 1.
But on each successive day
throughout the month, it will
move eastward across the
sky, ending up in Sagittarius
on July 31. During that time,
of course, the moon will
wax, wane, then wax again
as it displays a full range of
phases: full moon on July
4, last quarter July 12, new
moon July 20 and first quar-
ter July 27.
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