There’s almost always a noticeable cosmic event going on up in the night sky that’s worth seeing. This section of our website is your resource for DIY stargazing. Any time you want to know what’s happening up in the sky that’s worth seeing, check this page. We suggest that you download and print the current month Skymap to help you locate the featured cosmic objects.

OUR FEATURED ASTERISM

An asterism is a noticeable pattern of stars that is not a constellation. The Winter Hexagon is made up of six of some of the brightest winter stars in the Northern Hemisphere. Once you find these six bright stars, you can use them to trace out their constellations. Printing out a star map will help you locate and identify these stars and constellations. Use the Skymaps.com link on our Home Page to print this month’s sky chart. We suggest that you order a planisphere to help find your way through the night sky. In addition, the Winter Hexagon has a smaller asterism inside it, called the Winter Triangle. Plus, this year, the bright planet Jupiter will be passing through the Winter Hexagon and it’s brighter than all of the stars in the night sky. All of the stars you see in the sky belong to our own Milky Way Galaxy. As you look at the Winter Hexagon ponder this thought. Within the hexagon lies more than 250 galaxies, with their owns stars, asterisms and constellations.

OUR FEATURED CONSTELLATION

Orion is one of the most ancient constellations and among only a handful that are easily recognized by any non-astronomer. A giant huntsman in Greek mythology, he prowls the night skies between January and April. Seven bright stars define the essential hourglass figure, including the red supergiant star Betelgeuse, the Blue-white supergiant Rigel, and a line of three distinctive stars forming his belt. To find the constellation Orion, look to the Southeast about an hour after sunset. As the Earth rotates West to East, throughout the night Orion will drift to the West until out of sight a few hours after midnight.

OUR FEATURED STAR

One of two stars that dominate the mighty Orion and represents his upper right shoulder. Betelgeuse (pronounced Beetlejuice), is a red supergiant and is one of the larger stars that can be seen with the naked eye, indeed one of the larger stars to be found anywhere. Betelgeuse is over 500 light years from Earth and is nearly 700 times bigger than our own Sun.

OUR FEATURED STAR CLUSTER

The Pleiades is what is called an open star cluster. An open star cluster is a loose, irregular group of tens to thousands of young stars that formed together from the same molecular cloud, and are typically found within the spiral arms of galaxies. In our case, the Orion-Cygnus Arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Sometimes you will hear the Pleiades being referred to as the Seven Sisters, after the seven brightest stars in the cluster. Some say is looks like a miniature Big Dipper. Or is mistaken for the Little Dipper. If you observe the Pleiades a little closer with a pair of binoculars you will notice that they are not just a cluster of stars, they are also surrounded by a dusty blue reflection nebula, where light is scattering off the cloud’s tiny particles much like sunlight scattering in the Earth’s atmosphere. Next time you see a car logo that looks like the Pleiades, you can correctly guess that the car is a Japanese manufactured car. In the Japanese culture, the Pleiades is called the ………. Subaru.

If you’re interested in joining other stargazing enthusiasts and educators for public stargazing events, check out our section on Public Stargazing Events. You’ll get to observe celestial events through telescopes and other stargazing gear provided by Event Horizon and it’s members in attendance, which makes for a more vivid and memorable stargazing experience.

---

Artemis II Mission Updates

It’s been more than 50 years since humans have visited the Moon. Today, April 1st between 5:24pm and 7:24 pm CDT, the Artemis II spacecraft will send four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the far side of the Moon and back to Earth. Similar to the Apollo 8 and 10 missions of lunar orbit tests. The Artemis I mission tested the transition from initial Earth orbit, as did Apollo 7 and 9. Artemis II will be the 1st crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since the final Apollo 17 mission in 1972. This mission will also send the astronauts farther away from Earth than any human has been. Currently, there is an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions for launch. If weather gets in the way, there are also launch opportunities everyday through Monday, April 6th. Artemis III, which will land the first woman on the Moon, will be scheduled after evaluation of the Artemis II mission. Possibly looking at a 2027 launch. Did you know that in Greek mythology Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo?