It’s cold out. The sky is crisp and clear. It gets dark very early. There are some beautiful stars in the Winter sky. This is absolutely the best time to go stargazing. Here are some notes taken from two earlier FAS Astronomer Blogs.
The Night Sky
Central to the cool and clear Winter sky is Orion the Hunter with his bright belt of Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Don’t miss red Betelgeuse (his right shoulder) and bluish/white Rigel (his left foot). In the center of his sword is the Great Orion Nebula (M42).
Up from Orion’s belt is the V-shaped head of Taurus the Bull with the reddish star Aldebaran (the Bull’s right eye). On the Bull’s back is the open star cluster the Pleiades (M45 / The Seven Sisters / Subaru).
Down from Orion’s belt is the bright “Dog Star” Sirius in Canis Major the Greater (Large) Dog. Above the Large Dog, is Procyon in Canis Minor the Lesser (Small) Dog. A bit higher is Pollux and Castor, the heads of the Gemini twins. High in the sky is the Charioteer Auriga looking like a trapezoid or pentagon with the bright star Cappella.
Follow the Winter Hexagon (Circle) from Sirius to Procyon to Pollux to Capella to Aldebaran to Rigel.
The ecliptic (path of the planets) runs through Taurus and Gemini. However, Jupiter and Saturn have faded off to the west. They will be back in the evening sky next summer.
Turn around toward the north and find the Big Dipper off to the east. Follow the two stars at the end of the bowl to find Polaris (the North Star) at the end of the tail of the Little Dipper. Notice that the Little Dipper is always found curved in toward the Big Dipper. You might see the queen Cassiopeia on the opposite side (west) looking like a big W or M. Nearby is the faint King Cepheus resembling a child’s drawing of a house.
See our webpage about The Night Sky for a few suggested smart phone and tablet apps and links to various star maps including Stellarium Web. The Astronomical League has monthly sky charts (see below). You might also visit the new Kaleideum Digital Dome Planetarium for their daily sky tours (general museum admission rates apply).
The Deep Sky
The easiest Messier object to find is the Pleiades (aka the Seven Sisters and Subaru) [M45]. It is an open star cluster siting on the back of Taurus the Bull. Many people mistake the Pleiades for the little dipper, due to its four brighter stars that form a bowl and a fifth star representing a handle. The Pleiades is also an ancient eye chart. The more stars you can discern with your naked eyes, the better your vision.
The Hyades (Hi a dees) [C41] is an expansive open cluster covering the V that makes up Taurus’s head and then some. It is one of the closest open clusters to the Earth at only around 150 light years away. The bright star Aldebaran appears to be within the Hyades, but it is closer to us at around half the distance.
A more challenging object, because of its low magnitude, is the supernova remnant the Crab Nebula [M1]. It is found near the star Tianguan/Zeta Tauri (the lower horn of Taurus), and roughly in the direction of Elnath (the other horn).
One of my favorites and another object visible to the naked eye is the Orion Nebula [M42]. The nebula is the middle object in Orion’s sword. Look very closely and see if you can find the Trapezium, an asterism consisting of four bright stars at the center of the nebula.
The Rosetta Nebula [C49, NGC 2237] along with an open cluster [C50, NGC 2244] at its center are found in the constellation Monoceros around 2/5th of the way from Betelgeuse toward Procyon.
Two very challenging nebulas in Orion are the Horsehead Nebula (found below Alnitak on the line toward Saiph) and the Flame Nebula (found just above Alnitak and outside the line toward Betelgeuse).
Gemini’s only Messier object is an open cluster [M35], which is found out from and just above the left foot of Castor (Tejat/Mu Geminorum and Propus/Eta Geminorum). It is a bit farther from Propus than the distance between Tejat and Propus. It is also ½ way between Alhena/Gamma Geminorum (3rd brightest star in Gemini and left foot of Pollux) and Elnath (the horn of Taurus).
An open cluster [M41] is found in the lower front of the dog’s body near Sirius in Canis Major. You might be able to pick out a variety of stellar colors in this cluster.
A Few References
- “Night Sky Tools.” Astronomical League. January pdf. January jpg. February pdf. February jpg. March pdf. March jpg.
- “Herramientas para el cielo nocurno.” Astronomical League. Enero pdf. Enero jpg. Febrero pdf. Febrero jpg. Marzo pdf. Marzo jpg.
- “Outreach Resources.” The Night Sky Network. NASA/JPL-Caltech.
- “NASA What’s Up.” NASA Science.
- “The Night Sky.” FAS Website.
- “The Night Sky.” FAS Astronomers Blog. June 2021.
- “The Deep Sky.” FAS Astronomers Blog. June 2022.
- “The Constellations.” International Astronomical Union (IAU) and Sky & Telescope.
- “About Constellations.” Sky Tellers: The Myths, The Magic, and The Mysteries of the Universe. Lunar and Planetary Institute.
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