During winter, atmospheric refraction causes Sirius to sparkle in a rainbow of colors - a beautiful sight through binoculars or a small telescope. Sirius always dazzles, but the star especially captivates when positioned near the horizon. The belt points down and to the left to a brilliant white star: Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, leader of the constellation Canis Major the Great Dog. Orion is the focal point of a stunning gathering of bright stars and constellations. When you gaze at this wondrous glowing cloud, you view creation itself, for within this luminous glow, stars are being born.
#DOLPHIN LEAOING TOWARDS THE STARS PATCH#
In binoculars, it appears as a fuzzy patch of light. It's the Orion Nebula - one of the grandest telescopic showpieces the night sky has to offer. Beneath the belt hangs a row of three stars - Orion's "sword." Don't be fooled by their uninspiring naked-eye appearance the middle star in the sword isn't a star at all. A rectangle of bright stars, which includes, at opposite corners, 1st-magnitude Betelgeuse and Rigel, is bisected by a diagonal row of three bright stars (the "belt"). On a winter evening, the sky is home to what most astronomers agree is the grandest of all constellations - Orion the Hunter. If you trace a line from the bowl of the Big Dipper past the North Star and continue it an equal distance beyond, you'll arrive at an eye-catching group of stars that form a distinct letter M or W. Because four of its stars are dim, the Little Dipper is hard to see in light-polluted skies. Like its big brother, the Little Dipper is made up of seven stars - four in the bowl, and three in the handle. Polaris is the brightest star in Ursa Minor the Little Bear, which contains the Little Dipper. When astronomical newcomers see this celebrated star for the first time, they are astonished that it isn't much brighter than the stars in the Big Dipper. As any good Boy or Girl Scout will attest, you can find Polaris, the North Star, by tracing a line between the stars Dubhe and Merak at the end of the bowl of the Big Dipper and extending it about five times the distance between them. These bright stars - four forming the "bowl," three more tracing out the "handle" - create one of the most recognizable patterns in the night sky, an ideal guide for locating surrounding constellations. The most prominent figure is the Big Dipper (Note: The Big Dipper is not a constellation). North circumpolar constellations We begin in the northern sky, realm of those always-visible star groups known as the north circumpolar constellations. It's time to go to school and meet some new friends! With a little help from your friends (easy-to-find guidepost constellations) and a willingness to "show up for class" on successive nights, you'll soon feel comfortable in your nighttime surroundings. Learning the constellations is like that. Through them, and with your day-to-day exposure to the classroom, you gradually became acquainted with all of your classmates.
Trying to make sense of those myriad stellar specks overhead might seem intimidating, but making friends with the stars needn't be a "mission impossible." Remember your first day of school - entering that classroom and finding yourself confronted by a roomful of unfamiliar faces? Even on that first day, you probably made a few friends. After all, you can't find the Andromeda Galaxy if you can't find Andromeda. If you're a newcomer to amateur astronomy, eager to begin exploring the night sky, you'll have to overcome one of astronomy's biggest hurdles - learning to identify the constellations.
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