Step outside on these cool autumn nights about an hour after sunset on a clear night and look up. Cygnus the Swan is also known as the Northern Cross is well-positioned overhead and easily recognized. The faint glow of hundreds of millions of stars, too dim to be distinguished individually by the human eye, is seen along the long neck of the swan is the perfect guide when attempting to glimpse the galactic arms of our Milky Way Galaxy from light-polluted suburban skies.

Moving eastward from the great Teapot of Sagittarius, we continue our voyage along the ecliptic to Capricornus – The Goat. It takes up 414 square degrees of sky, making it 40^th in overall size. To date, five stars residing within the boundaries of Capricornus are parents to nine planets. The stars that define the asterism are of average brightness, running in the range of magnitude 2.8 to 4.5.