Winter is here and so is the winter nighttime sky. The most obvious constellation is Orion, the hunter. Orion is shaped like a large hourglass. His belt is three bright stars in an east-west row. The bright star south of the belt is Rigel, his right knee. Rigel is also one corner of the Winter Hexagon, a very large asterism.
North and a bit west of Rigel is Aldebaran, a red giant. Further north and a bit east is very bright Capella. Moving east we then come to the Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux. Moving south we come to Procyon, and finally, further south, is the brightest star Sirius.
The observatory was closed for the January Public Night, but we hope to be open again for February’s first Friday. Visit our website for information: humbleisd.net/observatory, and to join our email distribution list, please send an email to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
