Delphinus is an ancient constellation, thought to have originated with the Greeks. The asterism is compact, and quickly examined in binoculars. The best object, gamma Del, is a justly-famous binary -- a golden primary and yellowish companion, suitable unfortunately only for telescopes. A prerequisite study here, would be Aquila.
Alpha Delphini is Sualocin, which is ‘Nicolaus’ backwards, the Latinized name of Niccolo Cacciatore, assistant to the noted Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi. Also, beta Delphini is Rotanev, backwards for ‘Venator’, apparently the same gentleman's last name Latinized. At a visual magnitude of 3.86, alpha is the brightest star of the constellation. However many others are very nearly the same brightness. To find alpha (and the whole constellation for that matter) from Altair move two binocular FOVs to the northeast. The constellation has two superb binaries, but only suitable for telescopes.
Gamma Delphini has a subtle colour change: 4.4, 5.3, PA 268º and a separation of 10", while Struve 2725 is even more pleasing, a delicate sytem of two 8th-mag stars, again too close for binoculars.
