Winter finds Ursa Major (Big Dipper) climbing the northeastern sky, with the three stars of its handle pointing toward the horizon and the four stars of its bowl standing the highest. The entire sky rotates around a point near Polaris, a 2nd-magnitude star found by extending a line from the uppermost pair of stars in the bowl across the sky to the left of the Dipper. Polaris also performs two other valuable functions: The altitude of the star above the horizon equals your latitude north of the equator, and dropping a straight line from the star to the horizon points due north.
Turn around with your back to the Dipper and you'll be facing winter sky. Our second starting point in the sky is Orion which is key to mapping your route. Three closely spaced, 2nd-magnitude stars form a straight line that represents the Belt of Orion. Extending the line joining these stars to the upper right leads us to Taurus and its 1st magnitude star, Aldebaran. Reverse your direction to the belt's lower left and you cannot miss Sirius at magnitude -1.5 making it the brightest star in the night sky.
Now move perpendicular to the belt from its westernmost star, Mintaka, and find the red supergiant star Betelgeuse at the upper left of Orion. Betelgeuse marks his left shoulder. Continuing this line brings you to a pair of bright stars, Castor and Pollux. Two lines of fainter stars extend from this pair back toward Orion, these represent Gemini. Now head south of the belt and will fall on the blue supergiant star Rigel, Orion's other bright star.
Above Orion, and nearly overhead on winter evenings, is brilliant Capella. Extending a line through the shoulders of Orion to the east leads you to Procyon in Canis Minor. Once you have these principal stars mastered, using the charts below to discover the fainter constellations will be a lot easier.
There a two winter asterisms that are part of this trip through the winter star fields, they are The Winter Triangle and the larger Winter Hexagon. These will help you navigate the Winter Sky.
Take your time, keep warm and enjoy the journey.
Clear and Dark Skies Dave Holland
