Lyra

Lyra [Lat.,=the lyre], northern constellation lying S of Draco, E of Hercules, and W of Cygnus. Although many civilizations represented it as a bird, it was also depicted as a tortoise. The white star Vega (Alpha Lyrae), the brightest star in the constellation, is one of the brightest in the entire sky. Just NE of Vega is Epsilon Lyrae, one of the few double stars that can be resolved with the naked eye. Also in Lyra is the Ring Nebula, the most famous of the planetary nebulae, consisting of a shell of gas separated from and expanding from a central star. Lyra reaches its highest point in the evening sky in August.

lyra (Lira).
1. The lyre.

2. Early Ger. name for hurdy-gurdy; see lira.

Lyra (abbr. Lyr, gen. Lyrae) A prominent constellation of the northern sky, representing a lyre. Its brightest star is Vega. Beta Lyrae (Sheliak) is an eclipsing binary, the prototype of the Beta Lyrae stars; it varies between magnitudes 3.3 and 4.4 in a period of 12.9 days. It is also a double star, with a fainter component of magnitude 7.2. Delta Lyrae is a wide double, magnitudes 4.2 and 5.6, while Epsilon Lyrae is a famous quadruple star, the Double Double. Zeta Lyrae is another double star, magnitudes 4.4 and 5.7. RR Lyrae is the prototype of the RR Lyrae stars, an important class of pulsating variables. M57 is a well-known planetary nebula, the Ring Nebula. The Lyrid meteors radiate from the constellation every April.