Here in the Sawtooths, there are constellations that you can see all year round, circumpolar constellations, in the northern sky, and a phenomenon to the east, the Summer Triangle. The five northern constellations you might already be familiar with: Ursa Major (the Big Dipper), Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper), Draco, Cassiopeia, and Cepheus. The Summer Triangle includes three constellations that are almost directly overhead in the eastern sky: Lyra, Cygnus, and Aquila. Each of these constellations has its own story behind its name and how, mythologically speaking, it came to occupy the night sky.

In Greek mythology, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were once the nymph Callisto and her son, Arcas. After Zeus, the god of the sky, had an affair with Callisto and sired Arcas, he turned the nymph into a bear so that she would escape the wrath of his jealous wife, Hera. Years later, Arcas, now grown, was hunting in the woods when he came upon his mother. To prevent her slaying, Zeus turned Arcas into a bear cub, then threw the pair into the sky. Draco, the dragon that winds between the two bears, represents the dragon Ladon, once the guardian of the Garden of the Hespirides. Slain by Hercules as part of one of his 12 labors, Ladon was commemorated to the stars for his service. Cepheus and Cassiopeia are also connected in the night sky, the ancient king and queen of Aethiopia and the parents of Andromeda, who was sacrificed to the sea monster Cetus and saved by the hero Perseus.