It’s not the pale moon that excites me
This clever little educational tool is a bit good. Learn to identify and remember Orion, Jupiter, the Big Dipper, Polaris and more in the night sky and all in about 15 minutes. And you’ll be able to navigate your way home from the pub on a dark winter’s eve.
(Via Rachel)
Posted on December 17th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
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Fascinating, brought back memories of my father (ex Navy) who would point to this and that in the night sky. I thinked I missed it, but why was Orion’s arm important, it said earlier that is was but I may have missed the screen that explained why.
I’m sorry to hear about the attack. The star chart is excellent, always been able to spot Orion so this really builds on that nicely.
Orion’s arm is important, Cloned Poster because in his right armpit is the bright star Betelgeuse.
Fabulous night sky at the moment but too bastard cold to enjoy it
And also, Orion’s arm extending from Betelgeuse points to the band of sky that the planets swing through.
That’d be the plane of the ecliptic then, Justin. Pretty good Gemenid display earlier this week as well. And when the sky is clear, it is never too bastidge cold, Rachel.
Orion is a very useful signpost. Follow the Belt downwards and you’ll come to a very bright white star, usually close to the horizon. This is Sirius, the Dog Star and the brightest star in the sky.
Follow the Belt upwards and you’ll come to a bright orangy-reddish star called Aldebaran, which is in Taurus. It’s part of a distinctive group of stars in a V shape.
Keep following the line of the Belt beyond Aldebaran, and you’ll find a smudge. Look closely at this, away from street lights, and you’ll see that it’s actually a group of several stars close together. This is the Pleiades (or the Seven Sisters - although you’ll only be able to see seven stars if you’ve got good eyesight and are a long way from any light pollution.)
Final tip: you can tell stars and planets apart because planets don’t twinkle.
Oooh, get us, astromising.
Astronomising, even, curse this mulled wine and cold fingers combination