Summer Triangles over Japan

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day, the bright stars Vega, Deneb, and Altair form a large triangle on the sky known as the Summer Triangle that can be seen rising in the northern early spring during the morning and rising in the northern fall during the evening. During summer months, the triangle can be found nearly overhead near midnight. Featured here, the Summer Triangle asterism was captured in April from Gunma prefecture, Japan. In the foreground, sporting a triangular shape of its own, is a flowering 500 year old cherry tree, standing about 15 meters tall. The triangular shape of the asterism is only evident from the direction of Earth — in actuality the stars are thousands of light years apart in space. Move the slider on the image to see the labels and star lines. © Shingo Takei