WHAT IS HAPPENING THIS MONTH?
Click to listen to Frederic Chopin's Nocturne 72 #1.
"Imagine if you could collect the brightest stars of spring, summer, and fall into a single season, cram them into one sector of the sky, and then double or even quadruple the brilliance of some of them. That would be fantastic!
Amazingly, you don't have to use your imagination to visualize such a grand assemblage of celestial luminaries, because it already exists. I refer to the grouping of winter constellations that surrounds and includes Orion, the Hunter." Orion's Mighty Stellar Retinue by Fred Schaaf
I agree with Mr. Fred Schaaf completely. That is why I hope I can help you and your family discover this "grand assemblage" for yourselves. Look over your star chart and the diagram I sent you and then continue to read If you have a field guide, it will also help.
Let's start in the middle with Orion, the Hunter. It is one constellation that almost everyone recognizes and we can use the stars of Orion as landmarks to find the other winter constellations in this grouping. Orion is famous for his bright red left shoulder, Betelgeuse, a red giant with the magnitude of 0.8.
Orion's right foot is the bright blue star Rigel, a blue giant magnitude 0.11. Orion's famous three belt stars strap his sword to his waist. The sword's middle fuzzy star isn't really a star at all. It is the Orion nebula M42. It is visible with the naked eye, but better seen with binoculars.
Go back to Betelgeuse and let your eyes travel up diagonally 33 degrees from Betelgeuse to two bright twin stars in the constellation Gemini, the Twins. The two bright stars are Castor, magnitude 1.97, and Pollux, magnitude 1.15, named after twin brothers in Greek mythology. Some people say that they can see two stick figure boys in this constellation. In a telescope Castor appears to be a double star but really Castor is a system of six stars, three binary systems.
The stars in Orion's belt point to three other very bright stars. The lower left star in his belt points to the brightest star in the Northern Hemisphere, Sirius (-1.45) of Canis Major, the large dog. Canis Major is the largest of Orion's hunting companions. To me Canis Major looks like a dog standing on his hind feet begging for a snack. Sirius is a wonderful star. It is the fifth brightest object in the night sky after the sun, moon, Venus, and Jupiter. It is also called the Dog Star. Have you heard of the Dog Days of summer? Dog Days are a hot period in summer when Sirius, high in the daytime sky, supposedly added to the heat. Sirius is a double star. It has a white dwarf as its companion called the Pup.
Orion's other hunting companion, Canis Minor To find the small dog, go back to Betelgeuse and let your eyes travel in a straight line to the left. You will run right into the eighth brightest star in the night sky, Procyon (0.35). Procyon, Sirius, and Betelgeuse make up the Winter Triangle.
The middle star in Orion's belt will help us find the next constellation. It points straight up to Capella (0.08), the bright star in the constellation Auriga. Auriga, the Charioteer, looks like a tilted pentagon. Yellow Capella is also called the Herald of the Winter Stars. Capella is also called the She-Goat star. If you look closely you will see two dim stars near it. These are kids. Capella is the sixth brightest star in the sky.
The third star in the belt of Orion points to Aldebaran (0.85) in Taurus. Taurus, the bull shares one the stars in his horns with Auriga. His face is the open star cluster, the Hyades. Aldebaran (0.85) is a bright orange star and is the 'eye of the bull.' The bull's shoulder is the star cluster, the Pleiades, M45. The Pleiades are also called the Seven Sisters. Only six of the sisters are visible to the naked eye. You must look at the Pleiades through binoculars. It is a spectacular sight.
I the diagram on the Star Connections page and the above description helps you and your family find all of these constellations. They will bring you pleasure all winter long.
Click on the book to sign or view the new guestbook.
I still get really excited about things that I see in the night sky. That is why I started this mailing list. Those who join this list will get email letters about things like meteor showers, planets that are up and all kinds of other wonderful events. I hope to someday include short articles about constellations. I just want everyone else to have as much fun as my astronomy club and I are having. If you are interested, sign up.
