: By Francine JacksonAfter enjoying the overhead rescue of Andromeda by the prince charming Perseus, you might notice that Perseus has his foot on a tiny little clump of stars. At first glance, many people believe they have found the Little Dipper, not realizing that the Little Dipper is a part of our northern circumpolar sky, visible whenever you care to look in that direction; instead, that tiny cuplike group is the Pleiades.
: By Francine JacksonNow that the signpost of summer, the Summer Triangle, is reaching its high position in the sky, it's time to use its stars to find some of the dimmer, but still easy to sight, constellations.
: By Francine JacksonAs the sky begins to remind us that a new month is approaching, we are able to see a constellation that is often forgotten, but much more important than we usually let on.
: By Dave HuestisEveryone with an interest in astronomy probably has a favorite constellation. It may be because of the star pattern’s mythology, or its shape in the sky, or for the beautiful objects that reside within its boundaries, or possibly because it’s your astrological sign.
: By Glenn ChapleYou won’t need a finder chart to locate this month’s featured sky object. It’s the first magnitude star β Orionis, better known by its proper name Rigel. Seventh brightest star in the night sky, Rigel dazzles us with a diamond-white color; especially striking when compared with Orion’s other first-magnitude star, the ruddy-hued Betelgeuse.
: By Dave HuestisJust as the summer sky has the Summer Triangle, the winter sky has its own special asterism, and this one is huge and includes a total of eight bright stars. It’s called the Winter Circle or Winter Hexagon. I’ll explain why you can get both shapes from the stars.
