Posts Tagged ‘asterism’
Sky Tonight—May 11, Moon brushes the belly of Leo
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org The moon is waxing larger in the evening sky each night. The first quarter phase happened yesterday, and now it is a waxing gibbous moon. Tonight’s moon is near the star Regulus and brushing up against the belly of the constellation Leo the Lion throughout the evening. Regulus is the brightest star in the constellation Leo the Lion. It dots the backward question mark of stars dubbed the Sickle. The Sickle is ... Full Story
Sky Tonight—March 8, The Summer Triangle, a signpost
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science Visit EarthSky at www.EarthSky.org To see Jupiter in March 2011, look west soon after sunset As seen from our northern temperate latitudes, the three brilliant stars of the Summer Triangle – Vega, Deneb and Altair – are out for at least part of the night every night of the year. Presently, the Summer Triangle shines in the eastern sky at and before dawn. Like the Big Dipper, the Summer Triangle is an asterism – a pattern of stars that is not ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight—June 10: Find the Summer Triangle
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org An asterism is not the same thing as a constellation. Constellations generally come to us from ancient times. Earlier in this century, the boundaries of 88 constellations were officially drawn by the International Astronomical Union. On the other hand, asterisms are whatever you want them to be. They are just patterns on the sky’s dome. You can also make up your own asterisms, in much the same way you can recognize shapes in ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight — March 8, 2010: The Summer
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org As seen from our northern temperate latitudes, the three brilliant stars of the Summer Triangle – Vega, Deneb and Altair – are out for at least part of the night every night of the year. Presently, the Summer Triangle shines in the eastern sky at and before dawn. Like the Big Dipper, the Summer Triangle is an asterism – a pattern of stars that is not one of the officially recognized 88 constellations. To gauge the size of ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight — March 4, 2010: Recognize the Big
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org We received a question about the Big and Little Dippers. “How can I locate both Ursa Minor and Ursa Major? I am seeing one of them in the sky . . . but cannot tell which one and where the other one is.” The answer is that, if you are seeing only one dipper, it is probably the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major. This constellation, also called the Greater Bear, contains the Big Dipper asterism that is familiar to so ... Full Story
Earthsky Tonight — March 3, 2010: Use the Big Dipper
Courtesy of EarthSky A Clear Voice for Science www.EarthSky.org At one time, sailors’ livelihoods and survival depended on their lucky stars – most especially, the pointer stars of the Big Dipper. Drawing a line through the two outer stars of the bowl faithfully points to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris is not the brightest star in the sky, as is commonly believed. It is a moderately bright second magnitude star, radiant enough to be easily seen – even on a moonlit night. Polaris, ... Full Story
