The Eagle's Spots SPEND THE SUMMER WITH THE ABSORPTION NEBULAE OF AQUILA. Richard P. Wilds The central zone of the summer Milky Way shines with bright lights, including the 2nd-magnitude star Altair in the constellation Aquila, the Eagle. But this part of our galaxy is also notable for its dark features, namely, the Dark Rift, a band of cold molecular dust clouds that cuts down the middle of the bright galactic road. This naked-eye structure, which extends from Cygnus and floods out to the southwest in Ophiuchus toward Hercules in the west, offers observing targets ranging from naked-eye visibility to challenging deep-sky objects. DARK OF SUMMER The bright star Altair shines at center bottom of Fred Espenak's image of the summer Milky Way. The naked-eye absorption nebula LDN 141 in Hercules looms just above Altair and the Dark Rift. 30 July 2016 sky & telescope