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The Night Sky

Hunt For Stars With Orion's Help

by Francine Jackson

Every season, we have a signpost in the sky, a way to point out many of the beautiful constellation patterns that grace the night at that particular time of year. At this time, the cold winter season, our indicator is Orion, the Hunter, probably the most recognized pattern in the entire sky, after the Big Dipper. If you haven't met Orion, look south, about halfway between the horizon and the zenith, and his three bright belt stars are easy to find. Above and below the belt are his two brightest stars, Rigel, the white star that forms his knee on the right, and Betelgeuse, at his shoulder on the left. If you have good color sensitivity and a dark sky, you might notice that Betelgeuse is a different hue than Rigel. Betelgeuse is a cool, red star, but our eyes usually discern a kind of orangy tint.

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Draw a line through Orion's belt and follow over to the right, or west. The first bright star you'll find is another orangy one, Aldebaran, the Bull's Eye, the flaming eye of Taurus, the Bull. Continue the line to the right, and your eyes will be attracted to a small clump of six stars. These make up the open star cluster the Pleiades, also known as the seven sisters.

Go back to Orion's belt, and follow it to the left, or east. The first bright star you'll find is the brightest one in the sky, Sirius, the nose of Orion's hunting companion, Canis Major, the Big Dog. Many people are surprised to learn that Sirius, not the North Star, is the brightest; to prove to yourself that it is true, turn away from Sirius and look north. Compared to Sirius, Polaris will appear as just another regular star. The North Star's only importance is its location, close to true north.

Back to Orion's belt, but this time, go up, through Betelgeuse, and continue until you find two stars of almost equal brightness. You've located, from left to right, Pollux and Castor, the heads of Gemini, the Twins. Move downward, back toward Orion, to see if you can find the stick figures that make up their bodies.

This month, the planets are starting to return to our night sky. Right after sunset, look toward the west. Do you see that bright object that sort of looks like an airplane but doesn't move? That's Venus, our closest planetary neighbor. In the next few months, Venus will be rising a little bit each night, becoming easier to find and easier for spotting by your local observatories. Then, just a little later, look over to the east, and Saturn will be there for you. By mid-February, it's coming above the horizon at just about sunset, meaning Saturn also will be able to be observed by our public telescopes very soon.

The full Moon arrived on Groundhog Day, followed by last quarter Moon on February 10th. After that it shrinks from our view and moves toward the Sun, until it becomes a new Moon on Friday evening, the 16th, finally becoming a 1st quarter on Saturday morning, February 24th.

The next full Moon is coming up on March 3, and that one will deserve a special look. Be sure to check back here for more about the Red Moon.

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Canis Major
by: Robert Frost

The great Overdog
That heavenly beast
With a star in one eye
Gives a leap in the east.
He dances upright
All the way to the west
And never once drops
On his forefeet to rest.
I'm a poor underdog,
But to-night I will bark
With the great Overdog
That romps through the dark.

From "Complete Poems of Robert Frost," 1916

Francine Jackson is staff astronomer at Ladd Observatory on Hope Street in Providence, which is operated by Brown University. The Observatory is home to an antique 12-inch refracting telescope.

More resources on this topic:

To visit a local observatory, check out our listing. There are several in Rhode Island, visitors are welcome, and it's free.

Skyscrapers, the amateur astronomical society of Rhode Island, holds frequent open houses at Seagrave Observatory in North Scituate, as well as other events. Go to their Web site for more info.

Earth & Sky has a nice site showing Tonight's Sky with some cool features.

This Week's Sky has crisp, clear graphics showing the moon and stars to help in identification.

The Sky This Week, hosted by the U.S. Naval Observatory.

Skywatcher's Guide to the Moon for beginners, includes a map showing locations of all the Moon landings.

To learn more about astronomy.... download a series of PDFs at Sky & Telescope that explain how to read star charts, how to find planets, and more.

Do you know a Web page that should be linked to here? Want to comment on this story? Send us an email.

When does Winter end?

The timing of the seasons depends on who you ask. Meteorologists consider Winter to be the months December, January, and February. But astronomers mark the seasons by the movement of the Earth around the Sun. Day length varies throughout the year because the Earth is tilted on its axis. Days are shortest at the Winter Solstice in December and longest on the Summer Solstice in June. At the Spring or Autumn Equinox, day and night are both 12 hours long. Also, the sun will rise directly in the East and set directly in the West. Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation, with lots of graphics.

Night Sky Archives:

January 2007
December 2006
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October
September
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June

Image: Pleiades, via NASA

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