Sky watch: The tiny constellation of Delphinus

One of the tiniest constellations in the heavens now appears midway in the eastern sky after dark. And as small and faint as it is, it's not all that difficult to locate. First, you might need to get away from the city lights to see it well. And second, you might first need to find the Summer Triangle so you'll know just where to look.

Many readers of this column already know how to locate the Summer Triangle. Just after dark during mid-August, go out and look high in the eastern sky, and you'll see its three stars shining brightly there.

At the westernmost vertex of the large triangle lies the brightest of the trio - Vega, the brightest star in the constellation Lyra, the harp. The lower right-hand star of the triangle is Altair, which marks the constellation of Aquila, the eagle. Completing the triangle is Deneb, the faintest of the three stars, forming the tail of Cygnus, the swan.

Once you find this celestial landmark, you should be able to find Delphinus just below, and see the outline of the dolphin leaping from the water toward the north.

The four main stars of Delphinus form a tiny grouping that some call "Job's Coffin." The names of its two main stars, Sualocin and Rotanev, were first mentioned in 1814 in a star catalog, published at the Palermo Observatory in Italy. Read backward, these two words form the name "Nicolaus Venator," which is the Latin version for the Italian name Niccolo Cacciatore, who, at the time, was the assistant director of the observatory.

According to legend, Delphinus is the dolphin that carried the Greek poet Arion safely to shore at Tarentum, allowing him to escape his enemies. The figure of the youth on the dolphin appears on a series of silver coins issued at Tarentum in southern Italy around 370 BC. The dolphin also appeared on the coins of Syracuse in Sicily, dating from about the fifth century BC. In fact, the silver coins designed to commemorate the great victory over the Athenians in 413 B.C. have been considered by some to be the most beautiful of all time.

Find the dolphin in the sky, and you'll see why it's been the object of so much admiration through the ages: Delphinus - as tiny as it is - is truly magnificent.