Some Easy Targets

Mid January is a great time to become acquainted with the night sky. The constellations are large and they contain easy to see patterns with bright stars. Let us start with the best ones.

The winter constellations and Orion are in the east at 7 p.m. now. The best-known winter constellation is Orion the Hunter. The easiest way to find Orion is to look for the short vertical line of three bright stars that mark Orion’s belt.

Look at the orange Betelgeuse to the left of the three belt stars in Orion. To the right of the belt stars is the bright blue star Rigel. Compare the two stars to see the distinct color differences.

The brightest star in the night sky is the famous Dog Star or Sirius in the constellation Canis Major. Look for it directly below the belt stars by 8 p.m. now.

The spring constellations are already above the horizon by 11 p.m., Face east to find Leo the Lion jumping into the sky. Leo looks like a backward facing question mark that is lying on its side with the open end facing upward.

At the bottom of the question, mark of Leo (to the right) is the “dot” of the bright star Regulus. Some distance below the question mark is a triangle of stars that marks the tail of the lion.

The Big Dipper has returned to the evening sky. Between October and January, the Big Dipper hides below the northern horizon in the early evening.

Face north-northeast at 11 p.m. The Big Dipper stands on its handle with the open bowl facing to left.

Find the two stars at the top end of the bowl of the dipper. Follow them left to a lone moderately bright star. This is Polaris the North Star. Note that Polaris is nowhere near the brightness of most of the other stars. It ranks 49th in brightness.

The Little Dipper hangs down and right from Polaris. You can see the two bright stars at the end of the bowl and fainter stars in between.

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