Winter Constellations

List of Winter Constellations in the Northern Hemisphere Auriga Caelum Canis Major Canis Minor Carina Colomba Eridanus Fomax Gemini Horologium Lepus Monoceros Orion Pictor Puppis Reticulum Taurus Vela

Orion – The Hunter Orion is one of the most beautiful constellations in the winter sky, which first becomes visible around the end of August, and eventually disappears in the western horizon at the end of March.

Finding Orion If you look toward the east, you can easily find Orion's belt - three stars in a short, straight line. The rest of the constellation is easy to find from there.

Horsehead Nebula – Barnard 33 Nebula Distance-1500 LY Dimensions-1 LY The most famous nebula is hidden just below Alnitak. It appears just as a dense cloud of gas and dusk, and is fairly impossible to find…without a nice telescope. 

The Horsehead Nebula

Auriga – The Charioteer Auriga forms a giant pentagon in the Northern sky, with the Southern part touching Taurus.

Finding Auriga To find Auriga, first locate Orion. Taurus is to the right (west) and just above these two, much higher in the sky, you will see Capella. This star marks roughly the mid-point of the constellation, north to south.

Capella – Double Star Distance-42 LY Diameter-15 Million km Luminosity-130 Suns Capella marks the tip of the winter pentagon, and dominates Auriga. It is one of the best known stars in the sky, but is actually a pair of giant stars separated by one hundred million km.

Capella the Double Star

Canis Major – The Large Dog Mid-winter in the north is best time to see it.

Finding Canis Major Canis Major is very easy to find in the winter months. First locate Orion, and imagine a straight line through his belt. Follow the line to the southeast, and you will see Sirius perched right below it. Sirius is the nose of the dog. His body stretches to the southeast, and his front leg is to the west of Sirius.

Sirius – Blue Giant Star Distance-8.6 LY Diameter-2.5 Million km Luminosity-22 Suns By far, Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. It is one of the closest stars to Earth, and forms a famous couple with its companion, Sirius B, which is a white dwarf which revolves around it.

Sirius captured at dawn

Canis Minor – The Small Dog Canis Minor is very small, and is bordered by the Milky Way. It accompanies Orion in his celestial winter path. Its brightest star, Procyon, is one of the brightest in the sky

Finding Canis Minor Look toward the Southwest in the late evening hours, and when you spot Orion, find his shoulders: Bellatrix, his western shoulder, and Betelgeuse, his eastern shoulder. Make an imaginary line between the two stars from Bellatrix to Betelgeuse, and extend it outward toward the East. About three shoulder-widths away you will nearly run into Procyon.

Procyon - Star Distance-11.4 LY Diameter-2.8 Million km Luminosity-7 Suns It is the eighth brightest star in the sky, only four LY away from Sirius. It is also a double star, revolved by a white dwarf, Procyon B. The name means “before the dog” because it rises in the east well before Sirius.

Procyon

Gemini – The Twins Gemini forms a rectangle north of Orion, and just above Canis Minor. It has been baptized as the Winter Hexagon by astronomers.

Finding Gemini Gemini is located above and to the left of Betelgeuse. Once you have found the stars Castor and Pollux, the stars which are the "heads" of the twins, seeing the rest of the constellation is easy.

Gemini Cluster – Star Cluster M35 Distance-2,200 LY Dimensions-30 LY Gemini Cluster is located just southwest of the constellation. It is easily observable through binoculars and looks like a silvery cloud. It is filled with red giants, 100s of times brighter than the Sun.

The Gemini Cluster

Taurus – The Bull In Greek mythology, Zeus took on the appearance of Taurus to kidnap the beautiful Europa. The horns are tipped by the stars Elnath and Dzeta Tauri, and the impulsive eye is marked by Aldebaran, a red giant.

Finding Taurus Taurus is an easy constellation to find. You can find it by following the way Orion's belt stars point toward the right.

Pleiades – Star Cluster M45 Distance-400 LY Diameter-30 LY The most famous and beautiful star cluster is just north of Taurus. The brightest of these bluish stars are perfectly visible to the unaided eye. All the stars in Pleiades were born about the same time, about 70 Million years ago.

The Pleiades Star Cluster

Winter Meteor Showers Geminids Quadrantids December 13th 30 to 80 meteors per hour Quadrantids January 3rd 10 to 50 meteors per hour