Draco

Draco is one of the largest constellations in the sky. Like Pisces, it is not easy to see due to the faintness of its stars. From April to June, Draco will first appear in a more north-easterly position at around 9 pm, and at around 2 am it will be almost overhead before heading down towards the horizon in the north-west until day breaks at around 6 am.

There are many stories involving dragons or serpent like creatures in Greek mythology, but no one is actually sure which of these tales led to the naming of the constellation Draco. One of the myths involves a multi-headed dragon named Ladon. whose duty was to guard the Gardens of the Hesperides, a beautiful orchard which was cultivated by the wife of Zeus, Hera. The apples that grew on one of the trees were not of the ordinary variety. Known as the golden apples, they granted immortality to anyone who devoured them. The garden was named after the nymphs who looked after the trees in the orchard. The problem was that they would often steal the golden apples for themselves. The placing of Ladon in the gardens soon put an end to the nymph’s mischief, but the dragon would soon come up against a greater foe. The Greek hero Hercules was given the task of stealing the golden apples which he accomplished, at the same time slaying the multi-headed beast.

Orion

Orion is one of the most beautiful of all constellations, and one of the easiest to find. It looks like a large rectangle in the early Spring sky and contains many bright stars. In April it will first appear in the south-west around 9 pm, and dip below the horizon around midnight.

Orion is a character from Greek mythology, a giant hunter who was placed in the stars by Zeus upon his death. In the night sky Orion was perceived by ancient Greeks as defending himself against the nearby constellation of Taurus the bull. In one version of the myth Orion was the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, from whom he inherited an ability to walk on water. Orion walked across the sea to the island of Chios where he attacked the daughter of the island ruler in a drunken rage. Orion was blinded by the ruler in an act of retaliation but was later healed by Helios, the Greek personification of the sun. Orion later became arrogant with his great hunting abilities and vowed to kill every creature on the planet. The Goddess of the Earth, Gaia, responded by sending a giant scorpion (the constellation Scorpius) to destroy him. In the ensuing battle, Orion was killed and both he and Scorpius were placed amongst the stars.

Two of the brightest stars in the evening sky lie at opposite corners of Orion, bright orange-red Betelgeuse in the northeastern corner and even brighter Rigel in the southwest. Betelgeuse is is at least 300 times the Sun's diameter, and perhaps much more. It puts out about 100,000 times more energy than the Sun does, and when it dies, it will create a fireball that will briefly outshine billions of normal stars. We can’t be sure when that will happen to Betelgeuse, but it’s probably soon on the astronomical time scale: just about anytime in the next hundred thousand years. Rigel is a blue supergiant. Like Betelgeuse, it is much bigger and heavier than the Sun. It's surface is thousands of degrees hotter, however, so it shines blue-white. That high temperature means that Rigel also pumps out a lot of ultraviolet energy, which produces sunburn and other problems. When you add up the ultraviolet, visible light, and other wavelengths, Rigel shines tens of thousands of times brighter than the Sun. In fact, depending on Rigel's exact distance, it could be up to 100,000 times brighter than the Sun. In a few million years, Rigel, too, is likely to blast itself to bits as a supernova.

Near the center of Orion's prominent rectangle, look for a short diagonal line of three stars that forms Orion's Belt. Extending south from the belt, you'll see another, fainter line of stars that forms Orion's Sword. One of the objects in the sword isn't a star at all, but perhaps the most interesting object in Orion, known as M42, the great Orion Nebula. a vast star forming region some 1,500 light years from Earth. The Orion Nebula is easily visible with the naked eye apart from those living in an around the center of large cities. The visible nebula is a bubble of turbulent gas that is energized by the Trapezium, a cluster of hot, bright stars at its center that can be easily seen in a telescope. The process of star birth continues in the Orion Nebula today, with several hundred dense blobs of gas and dust collapsing to make new stars. In addition, planetary systems appear to be taking shape around many of the newborn stars. Not all of them will survive the birth process, though, because radiation from the cluster's hot young stars is eroding the planet-making materials around many of the stars.

Gemini

Gemini is easy to find in early Spring, above and to the left of Orion. In April, it will appear overhead around 8 pm and dip below the horizon around 2 am.

Many cultures have seen two humans in this star pattern, which consists of two roughly parallel lines of stars capped by two of the brightest stars in the night sky. But the legend that endures is that of Castor and Pollux. Gemini's two brightest stars bear the names of the twins. According to the most common version of their story, the queen of Sparta gave birth to two sets of twins, with one boy and one girl in each pair. One set was fathered by her husband, the other by Zeus, king of the gods. The four children were raised together, and the two boys -- one mortal, the other immortal -- were inseparable. They had many adventures, and joined Jason and the other Argonauts in the search for the golden fleece. During a fight with some landowners, the mortal Castor was killed. Pollux was inconsolable, and eventually begged Zeus to allow him to die so he could join Castor. Moved by Pollux's love for his brother, Zeus agreed to keep them together for eternity. They spend half of their time in the underworld, the other half in the heavens, where they are represented by the stars of Gemini.

Pollux is the brighter of the twins. The orange-giant star is about 35 light-years from Earth. At least one planet orbits the star. It is at least three times as massive as Jupiter, and it orbits Pollux once every 1.6 years. Castor consists of six stars. This crowded system lies about 50 light-years from Earth. All six stars in the system really are related, because they were born from a single giant cloud of gas and dust, probably around 200 million years ago.

Once of the most beautiful star clusters in the sky is located in Gemini. The star cluster M35 stands near the feet of the twins. It is about 2,800 light-years away, and it contains a couple of thousand stars. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is about 150 million years old. That's long enough for many of the cluster's original stars to have been pulled away by the gravity of the rest of the galaxy. But M35's remaining stars are bound together so strongly by their mutual gravitational pull that they're likely to stay together for a long time

Gemini is also home to the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks in mid-December. This is one of, if not the most, enjoyable meteor showers to watch during any given year. One can expect to see between 80 and 120 meteors per hour during this meteor shower. Geminid meteors tend to be bold, white and quick. The curious rock comet called 3200 Phaethon is the parent body of this shower.

Ursa Major

Ursa Major, the great bear, is always above the horizon in northern latitudes. Ursa Major is best known as the home of the asterism called the Big Dipper. From April to June, Ursa Major will first appear overhead at around 9 pm, and as the night moves on it will move lower towards the horizon in a north-westerly direction until day breaks around 6 am.

Of all the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is the most universally recognized. The dipper's seven bright stars form a portion of the great bear. It's hard to see the rest of the bear, especially from light-polluted cities. After you locate the dipper, look at the two stars that mark the outer edge of its bowl. Now connect these two stars, then extend the line above the dipper's bowl. Polaris, the north star, lies along this line, about five times the distance between the two pointers. No matter where the Big Dipper is in our sky, those two stars always point to Polaris.

The myth of Ursa Major involves the character Callisto from Greek mythology, a beautiful woman who was an attendant of Artemis, the Goddess of hunting and protector of girls. Callisto took a vow of chastity and became a favored hunting companion of Artemis. One day Zeus noticed the beautiful young Callisto and tricked her into breaking her vow of chastity. As a result she fell pregnant and was banished into the wild by Artemis. Eventually Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. Hera, the wife of Zeus soon heard of her husband’s indiscretion and took vengeance on Callisto by turning her into a bear. One day, after many years of wandering the wilderness alone, Callisto accidentally encountered her long lost son. Not recognizing his mother, Arcas is about to kill Callisto when Zeus intervenes and sends her into the heavens as Ursa Major (Great Bear) and her son as Ursa Minor (Little Bear)

Many galaxies can be seen in Ursa Major using a telescope.

Leo

The zodiacal constellation Leo, the lion, is one of a handful of constellations that really does look like its namesake. It consists of two patterns of stars that the brain puts together to make a lion. A backward question mark represents the head and mane, and a triangle of stars to the lower left forms the lion's hindquarters and tail.

In May and June Leo will appear high in the western night sky around 10 pm, before dipping towards the western horizon over the next few hours.

Like several constellations, Leo is based on the adventures of Hercules, a Greek mythological hero and son of Zeus. After being driven insane by his step mother, the divine hero killed his six sons in a blind rage. When he recovered from his temporary madness Hercules sought to atone for his actions by serving a penance for his crimes. Eventually Hercules ended up in the control of King Eurystheus who set him a series of labors. The first of these labors was to kill a lion that had been terrorizing the city of Nemea. Unknown to Hercules, the lion had a coat of golden fur which arrows and swords were unable to penetrate. On his first visit to the lion’s lair, Hercules discovered that his arrows simply bounced of the beast. On his second visit the hero blocked off one of the two entrances to the lair and entered armed with a large club. He beat the lion with his club before strangling it to death.

Leo's brightest star is blue-white Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is about 79 light-years away. Regulus rises almost due east, with the body of the lion following it into the sky over the next couple of hours. Once Regulus climbs into the sky, look to its left, toward the north, for the backwards question mark, known as the Sickle, that outlines his head and mane.

About two hours later, look low in the east for Leo's tail, a white star named Denebola, which comes from an Arabic name that, appropriately enough, means "tail of the lion." At a distance of just 36 light-years, Denebola is a fairly close neighbor. Even so, the fact that we can see it at all means that Denebola is quite bright -- more than 10 times brighter than the Sun. Denebola's brightness is a product of its mass. The star is about twice as heavy as the Sun, so it "fuses" the hydrogen in its core at a much faster rate. That makes the star's surface thousands of degrees hotter than the Sun's. The combination of high temperature and large size makes Denebola outshine the Sun and all but a few percent of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

As a final note, Leo also contains quite a few bright galaxies which are easily found in a telescope.

Virgo

Virgo is the second-largest constellation, so big that it takes about four hours for the whole thing to clear the eastern horizon. To the unaided eye, though, that huge area is basically a void, because only one bright star resides within its borders. Virgo is known as a spring constellation because, although you can see some or all of its stars on most nights of the year, the stars put on their best display in the evening sky during spring. In March and April Virgo will appear low on the eastern horizon around 9 to 10pm, by 1am it will be visible in the southern night sky before moving towards the western horizon. In May and June the constellation will be visible in the southern sky around 10pm, over the next few hours it will be visible in the western night sky before beginning to dip below the horizon. In July it will appear briefly in the western night sky between the hours of 10pm and 1am.

As with many constellations, Virgo's mythology is complex, with many different variations on its origins. One rather morbid tale involves the young female character Erigone from Greek mythology. Her father was Icarius, a farmer and friend of the God of Wine Dionysus. One day Dionysus offered wine to Icarius and his shepherds to honor their friendship. Unfortunately, his shepherds had never drank alcohol before and mistakenly thought they had been poisoned. They took revenge by killing Icarius in a drunken rage. Erigone later found her father’s body, and couldn’t control her sorrow. She buried her father and hanged herself next to his grave. Dionysus was so angry with the crime he inflicted a horrific plague upon the city of Athens, which caused the young single women to commit suicide. The plague was eventually lifted after the city honored both Icarius and his daughter. As a result Dionysus placed Erigone amongst the stars as Virgo, and her father as the neighboring constellation of Bootes.

Blue-white Spica is Virgo's only bright star, the 16th-brightest star in the night sky. It actually consists of two stars, both of which are much hotter, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. They are separated by only about 10 million miles, so from Spica's distance of 260 light-years, it is impossible to see them as individual stars. Because the stars are big, heavy, and close together, they exert such a strong gravitational tug on each other that each star causes the other to bulge outward. Seen in profile, the system would look like two eggs with the narrow ends pointed at each other. In the next few million years, the heavier star will near the end of its “normal” lifetime, so it will puff up to many times its current size. As it swells, some of its gas will begin to dump onto the surface of the other star. And as it gets even bigger, its outer layers will engulf its partner, pulling the two stellar cores closer together. No one knows exactly how the scenario will play out after that. The stars may merge to form a single star, or the larger star may explode before that can happen, blasting itself to bits and perhaps sending its companion careening through the galaxy like a stellar bullet.

While Spica is the most prominent object in Virgo, the most interesting may be the Virgo Cluster, a collection of several thousand galaxies, many of which can be seen in an 8-inch or larger telescope. It is centered about 60 million light-years away. The cluster forms the largest structure in our region of the universe. The galaxies are bound to each other by their gravity, so they move through space together. The cluster exerts a strong tug on our own galaxy, the Milky Way, and the small band of galaxies that it's bound to, the Local Group. The Local Group is being pulled toward the Virgo Cluster, and eventually may join it. The largest member of the cluster is M87, which spans one million light-years and contains one trillion stars or more. It's a type of galaxy known as a giant elliptical. It looks like a fat, fuzzy football. Its core is inhabited by one of the largest black holes yet discovered, a monster about 6.6 billion times the mass of the Sun.

Boötes

The brightest stars of Boötes form a cone shape, with brilliant yellow-orange Arcturus at the base of the cone. The name Boötes comes from a Sumerian word that means "Man Who Drove the Great Cart." The "Great Cart" was the Big Dipper. Boötes trails the Big Dipper as it wheels around the North Star. Boötes is most easily visible between April and July.

In one myth, Boötes is taken to represent Icarius, a grape grower who once invited Dionysus to visit his vineyards. The god was so impressed that he gave Icarius the secret of making wine. Icarius followed the recipe and enjoyed the beverage so much that he invited all his friends to try it. They, however, enjoyed it a bit too much and, when they woke up the next day with bad hangovers, they assumed Icarius had tried to poison them. Angry, they decided to murder him in his sleep. Dionysus was saddened by the death of his friend and decided to place Icarius among the stars.

Arcturus, the fourth-brightest star in Earth's night sky, is about 25 times larger than the Sun, and it produces about a hundred times as much energy. Interestingly, astronomers used light from Arcturus to help trip a switch that opened the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Arcturus is nearing the end of its life. In astronomical parlance, Arcturus has moved off the main sequence and entered the "giant" phase of its life. Despite its distance, Arcturus is one of the few stars to have its distance measured directly. Careful measurements reveal the star’s apparent diameter — how big it looks in the sky. That’s then combined with measurements of its distance — about 37 light-years. The combination reveals that the star's true size.

What’s particularly important is that the measurement matches nicely with predictions of how big the star should be. Those predictions are based on models of how stars behave — how they produce energy, how they change as they get older, and so on. If the models are correct, then astronomers can make a few basic measurements of any star, such as its temperature and brightness, and use those to determine the star’s size, its stage of life, and much more. But it’s important to verify the models against stars with known distances. Most of those comparisons show that the models are spot on.

Libra

Libra represents a balance scale. The name may come from the fact that the Sun passed across the face of the constellation at the time of the autumnal equinox in September, when day and night are of roughly equal length, so the heavens are "balanced." In April Libra will appear low on the south-eastern horizon around midnight, gradually moving across the southern horizon until day breaks. From May to June the constellation will be visible low in the south-eastern sky from around 10pm and dip below the south-western horizon at around 4am.

Unlike the other ancient constellations Libra is not entwined with Greek mythology. In fact ancient Greeks viewed the pattern of stars as part of the adjacent constellation of Scorpius, representing the claw of the scorpion. The origins of Libra being perceived as scales goes back even further than ancient Greece, to the ancient Babylonians some 2,000 years earlier. The Babylonians associated Libra with balance and this may not have been solely down to its shape. At that time the sun would have fallen in the constellation of Libra at the autumn equinox, a time of the year between the warm and cold seasons and when day and night are of equal length. A few thousand years later the Romans also identified the constellation as scales but not for the same reasons as suggested above. Instead the scales of Libra were associated with their God of Justice, Astraea, personified as the nearby constellation of Virgo. Libra’s association with law and fairness stems from the Roman version of the constellation.

Libra's brightest stars are named for the next constellation over, Scorpius. The stars are Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, which are Arabic names that mean the southern and northern claws, respectively. In ancient times, the stars represented the scorpion's claws. Thousands of years ago, however, the claws had been snipped off and assigned to Libra instead. The timing of the split is unclear, although it dates at least to the days of ancient Rome. Zubenelgenubi actually consists of at least four stars, which are split into two close pairs. Three of the four are bigger and hotter than the Sun, while the fourth is smaller and cooler. All four appear to be about 200 million years old.

Hercules

Hercules is a hero from Greek mythology and his adventures provide the basis for several other constellations. Although he is commonly referred to as Hercules this is actually the Roman translation of his name from the Greek Heracles. In April, Hercules will first appear low on the north-eastern horizon around 11 pm before gradually moving higher in the sky. By around 4 am the constellation will be directly overhead before dipping towards the north-western horizon. From May to August the constellation will be visible from around 10 pm, but will appear at different points in the sky depending on the month. In May and June it will first appear in a north-easterly or easterly direction.

Hercules was an illegitimate child of Zeus, the King of Gods. His mother was Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Zeus disguised himself as Alcmene's husband in order to bed her, she later gave birth to twins, one of which was Hercules who was fathered by Zeus, the other by her husband. Throughout his life Hercules was taunted by his step-mother Hera, the wife of Zeus, her actions eventually drove Hercules insane which led to him killing his children in a fit of rage. As a way of atoning for his act of madness Hercules was ordered to carry out twelve labors which he eventually completed. The constellation Hercules is usually associated with the penultimate labour of Heracles, which involved killing the dragon Ladon, who guarded the garden of the Hesperides. The dragon is represented by the constellation Draco. Hercules constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

One of the most notable deep sky objects in Hercules is the globular cluster M13. M13, also known as the Hercules Globular Cluster or Great Globular Cluster, consists of about 300,000 stars and is approximately 22,200 light years distant. The Hercules Globular Cluster was discovered by the English astronomer Edmond Halley in 1714 and included in Charles Messier’s catalogue as Messier 13 on June 1, 1764. The cluster can easily be seen in small telescopes, and can even be seen (although barely) with the naked eye. The Arecibo message, sent in 1974 into space to let hypothetical extraterrestrials know about life on our planet, was transmitted in the direction of M13, as it was believed that, because star density was higher in that area of space, chances of finding a planet that harbours life were greater too. By the time the message gets there, however, M13 will have moved to a different location.

Lyra

The constellation Lyra, the harp, is easy to find by first locating Vega, one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky. Lyra looks like a small, lopsided square, with Vega just beside one of the corners of the square. From April to May, Lyra will appear low on the horizon in the north-east around 11pm gradually moving higher in the sky before day breaks.

The legend of Lyra tells the story of Orpheus, who was given a harp by the god Apollo. Orpheus' music was sweeter than that of any other mortal man. It could soothe any savage, and bring joy to the heart of the weary. It was even said that rivers changed course to stay near its beauty. Orpheus married the lovely maiden Eurydice, but after their wedding, as she walked with her bridesmaids, she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus was so stricken with grief that he journeyed to the underworld to win her return. His music not only gained him entry to Hades, it caused Pluto, the god of the underworld, to soften his heart and grant Orpheus' wish. But there was one condition: Eurydice would follow Orpheus, who could not look back until both had gained the upper world. Orpheus followed his instructions, until he reached the surface. Before Eurydice could take the final steps into the light, he turned to gaze upon her. She vanished, with only one word to her love: Farewell. Crazed with grief, Orpheus wandered the hills of Greece until he was murdered. The Muses buried him, and Apollo placed his magical harp in the sky -- as Lyra.

Lyra's brightest star, Vega, is only about 25 light-years away, making it one of our closest neighbors. It shines pure white, which tells us that its surface is thousands of degrees hotter than the surface of the Sun. Astronomers use Vega as a reference star to define zero magnitude. Magnitude is the numerical scale astronomers use to measure, in a relative way, a star’s brightness in the sky.

Lyra hosts the "radiant" for the Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks each April. That means that if you trace their paths back across the sky, the meteors all appears to "rain" into Earth's atmosphere from the direction of Lyra. The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, having been observed for 2,700 years. The first recorded sighting of a Lyrid meteor shower goes back to 687 BC by the Chinese. The Lyrids are known for their fast and bright meteors, though not as fast or as plentiful as the famous Perseids in August, Typically, the Lyrics produce 10 - 20 meteors per hour, however every 33 years they can surprise watchers with as many as 100 meteors seen per hour.

The most famous deep sky object in Lyra is M57, otherwise known as the Ring Nebula. It is bright enough to be seen through a telescope under even moderately light polluted skies.

Cassiopeia

From July to September, the constellation will be visible from around 10 pm in a northerly or north-easterly position, and as the night progresses it will end up almost directly overhead before day breaks. Cassiopeia looks like a flattened "W" against the frothy background of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Cassiopeia was a queen from Greek mythology whose legendary vanity and arrogance ultimately led to her downfall. Cassiopeia was the wife of King Cepheus of Aethiopia and mother to the beautiful Princess Andromeda. One day Cassiopeia proclaimed to the Nereids, female spirits of the sea famed for their beauty, that both she and her daughter were more beautiful and radiant than any of them. The Nereids passed on their displeasure at Cassiopeia’s vain comments to the sea god Poseidon, who immediately dispatched a sea monster to destroy Aethiopia. Shocked at the attack, Cepheus consulted an oracle who advised him that the only way to appease Poseidon was to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda. Cepheus and Cassiopeia accepted the advice and chained their daughter to a rock as an offering to the sea monster. Luckily for Andromeda she was rescued by the hero Perseus. As an alternative punishment Poseidon sent Cassiopeia into the heavens, spinning around on her throne for eternity.

Many star clusters can be seen in Cassiopeia using binoculars or a telescope.

Draco

Draco is one of the largest constellations in the sky. Like Pisces, it is not easy to see due to the faintness of its stars. From July to September, the constellation will be visible almost directly overhead at around 10 pm, and will gradually move lower towards the horizon in a north-westerly direction before day breaks around 5 am.

There are many stories involving dragons or serpent like creatures in Greek mythology, but no one is actually sure which of these tales led to the naming of the constellation Draco. One of the myths involves a multi-headed dragon named Ladon. whose duty was to guard the Gardens of the Hesperides, a beautiful orchard which was cultivated by the wife of Zeus, Hera. The apples that grew on one of the trees were not of the ordinary variety. Known as the golden apples, they granted immortality to anyone who devoured them. The garden was named after the nymphs who looked after the trees in the orchard. The problem was that they would often steal the golden apples for themselves. The placing of Ladon in the gardens soon put an end to the nymph’s mischief, but the dragon would soon come up against a greater foe. The Greek hero Hercules was given the task of stealing the golden apples which he accomplished, at the same time slaying the multi-headed beast.

Perseus

In August and September the constellation Perseus, the Hero, will first appear low on the north-eastern horizon around 11pm, gradually moving higher in the sky before appearing directly overhead before day break.

Perseus was a Greek mythological hero whose adventures provide the background stories of other constellations. He was fathered by the King of Gods Zeus who seduced his mother Danae, a beautiful princess whose father was the King of Argos. The King of Argos previously consulted an Oracle who predicted that his daughter’s son would eventually kill him. After Perseus was born, the King placed his daughter and newly born grandson into a wooden chest and sent them adrift into the sea. The pair survived and landed safely on an island, where they were taken in by a local nobleman who raised the young hero through his childhood. Once Perseus had reached adulthood, the nobleman sent him on his most famous adventure, to slay Medusa, a snake haired Gorgon whose gaze could turn a man to stone. Perseus managed to cut off the monster’s head, avoiding her gaze with the aid of mirrors. Perseus did eventually kill the King of Argos, striking him accidentally in the head with a javelin at an athletic competition.

One of the brightest and most interesting stars in Perseus is Algol. The name Algol means "demon star." Ancient skywatchers thought it was cursed because its brightness changes. That's because Algol is the most famous eclipsing binary star and the first one to be discovered. Today, astronomers know that Algol is actually a three star system located around 90 light years from Earth, the primary star is eclipsed by one of its less bright companions every 3 days causing its brightness to dip considerably for several hours.

The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long trails of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also very bright, and can even briefly illuminate the surrounding terrain.

Ursa Major

Ursa Major, the great bear, is always above the horizon in northern latitudes. Ursa Major is best known as the home of the asterism called the Big Dipper. From July to September, Ursa Major will be become visible around 10 pm in the north-west, and it will gradually become lower on the horizon in a more northerly direction before day breaks around 6 am.

Of all the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is the most universally recognized. The dipper's seven bright stars form a portion of the great bear. It's hard to see the rest of the bear, especially from light-polluted cities. After you locate the dipper, look at the two stars that mark the outer edge of its bowl. Now connect these two stars, then extend the line above the dipper's bowl. Polaris, the north star, lies along this line, about five times the distance between the two pointers. No matter where the Big Dipper is in our sky, those two stars always point to Polaris.

he myth of Ursa Major involves the character Callisto from Greek mythology, a beautiful woman who was an attendant of Artemis, the Goddess of hunting and protector of girls. Callisto took a vow of chastity and became a favored hunting companion of Artemis. One day Zeus noticed the beautiful young Callisto and tricked her into breaking her vow of chastity. As a result she fell pregnant and was banished into the wild by Artemis. Eventually Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. Hera, the wife of Zeus soon heard of her husband’s indiscretion and took vengeance on Callisto by turning her into a bear. One day, after many years of wandering the wilderness alone, Callisto accidentally encountered her long lost son. Not recognizing his mother, Arcas is about to kill Callisto when Zeus intervenes and sends her into the heavens as Ursa Major (Great Bear) and her son as Ursa Minor (Little Bear).

Many galaxies can be seen in Ursa Major using a telescope.

Boötes

The brightest stars of Boötes form a cone shape, with brilliant yellow-orange Arcturus at the base of the cone. The name Boötes comes from a Sumerian word that means "Man Who Drove the Great Cart." The "Great Cart" was the Big Dipper. Boötes trails the Big Dipper as it wheels around the North Star. Boötes is most easily visible between April and July.

In one myth, Boötes is taken to represent Icarius, a grape grower who once invited Dionysus to visit his vineyards. The god was so impressed that he gave Icarius the secret of making wine. Icarius followed the recipe and enjoyed the beverage so much that he invited all his friends to try it. They, however, enjoyed it a bit too much and, when they woke up the next day with bad hangovers, they assumed Icarius had tried to poison them. Angry, they decided to murder him in his sleep. Dionysus was saddened by the death of his friend and decided to place Icarius among the stars.

Arcturus, the fourth-brightest star in Earth's night sky, is about 25 times larger than the Sun, and it produces about a hundred times as much energy. Interestingly, astronomers used light from Arcturus to help trip a switch that opened the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago. Arcturus is nearing the end of its life. In astronomical parlance, Arcturus has moved off the main sequence and entered the "giant" phase of its life. Despite its distance, Arcturus is one of the few stars to have its distance measured directly. Careful measurements reveal the star’s apparent diameter — how big it looks in the sky. That’s then combined with measurements of its distance — about 37 light-years. The combination reveals that the star's true size.

What’s particularly important is that the measurement matches nicely with predictions of how big the star should be. Those predictions are based on models of how stars behave — how they produce energy, how they change as they get older, and so on. If the models are correct, then astronomers can make a few basic measurements of any star, such as its temperature and brightness, and use those to determine the star’s size, its stage of life, and much more. But it’s important to verify the models against stars with known distances. Most of those comparisons show that the models are spot on.

Libra

Libra represents a balance scale. The name may come from the fact that the Sun passed across the face of the constellation at the time of the autumnal equinox in September, when day and night are of roughly equal length, so the heavens are "balanced." In April Libra will appear low on the south-eastern horizon around midnight, gradually moving across the southern horizon until day breaks. In July it will appear low in the southern night sky at at around 10pm before disappearing below the south-western horizon around 3 hours later.

Unlike the other ancient constellations Libra is not entwined with Greek mythology. In fact ancient Greeks viewed the pattern of stars as part of the adjacent constellation of Scorpius, representing the claw of the scorpion. The origins of Libra being perceived as scales goes back even further than ancient Greece, to the ancient Babylonians some 2,000 years earlier. The Babylonians associated Libra with balance and this may not have been solely down to its shape. At that time the sun would have fallen in the constellation of Libra at the autumn equinox, a time of the year between the warm and cold seasons and when day and night are of equal length. A few thousand years later the Romans also identified the constellation as scales but not for the same reasons as suggested above. Instead the scales of Libra were associated with their God of Justice, Astraea, personified as the nearby constellation of Virgo. Libra’s association with law and fairness stems from the Roman version of the constellation.

Libra's brightest stars are named for the next constellation over, Scorpius. The stars are Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali, which are Arabic names that mean the southern and northern claws, respectively. In ancient times, the stars represented the scorpion's claws. Thousands of years ago, however, the claws had been snipped off and assigned to Libra instead. The timing of the split is unclear, although it dates at least to the days of ancient Rome. Zubenelgenubi actually consists of at least four stars, which are split into two close pairs. Three of the four are bigger and hotter than the Sun, while the fourth is smaller and cooler. All four appear to be about 200 million years old.

Hercules

Hercules is a hero from Greek mythology and his adventures provide the basis for several other constellations. Although he is commonly referred to as Hercules this is actually the Roman translation of his name from the Greek Heracles. In July and August, Hercules will first appear overhead, before it moves towards the north-western horizon as the night moves on. In September, Hercules will first appear in the western night sky around 6 pm, before dipping below the north-western horizon over the next few hours.

Hercules was an illegitimate child of Zeus, the King of Gods. His mother was Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Zeus disguised himself as Alcmene's husband in order to bed her, she later gave birth to twins, one of which was Hercules who was fathered by Zeus, the other by her husband. Throughout his life Hercules was taunted by his step-mother Hera, the wife of Zeus, her actions eventually drove Hercules insane which led to him killing his children in a fit of rage. As a way of atoning for his act of madness Hercules was ordered to carry out twelve labors which he eventually completed. The constellation Hercules is usually associated with the penultimate labour of Heracles, which involved killing the dragon Ladon, who guarded the garden of the Hesperides. The dragon is represented by the constellation Draco. Hercules constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

One of the most notable deep sky objects in Hercules is the globular cluster M13. M13, also known as the Hercules Globular Cluster or Great Globular Cluster, consists of about 300,000 stars and is approximately 22,200 light years distant. The Hercules Globular Cluster was discovered by the English astronomer Edmond Halley in 1714 and included in Charles Messier’s catalogue as Messier 13 on June 1, 1764. The cluster can easily be seen in small telescopes, and can even be seen (although barely) with the naked eye. The Arecibo message, sent in 1974 into space to let hypothetical extraterrestrials know about life on our planet, was transmitted in the direction of M13, as it was believed that, because star density was higher in that area of space, chances of finding a planet that harbours life were greater too. By the time the message gets there, however, M13 will have moved to a different location.

Lyra

The constellation Lyra, the harp, is easy to find by first locating Vega, one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky. Lyra looks like a small, lopsided square, with Vega just beside one of the corners of the square. From June to July, the constellation will appear in the east around 10 pm, gradually moving higher until it is directly over head.

The legend of Lyra tells the story of Orpheus, who was given a harp by the god Apollo. Orpheus' music was sweeter than that of any other mortal man. It could soothe any savage, and bring joy to the heart of the weary. It was even said that rivers changed course to stay near its beauty. Orpheus married the lovely maiden Eurydice, but after their wedding, as she walked with her bridesmaids, she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus was so stricken with grief that he journeyed to the underworld to win her return. His music not only gained him entry to Hades, it caused Pluto, the god of the underworld, to soften his heart and grant Orpheus' wish. But there was one condition: Eurydice would follow Orpheus, who could not look back until both had gained the upper world. Orpheus followed his instructions, until he reached the surface. Before Eurydice could take the final steps into the light, he turned to gaze upon her. She vanished, with only one word to her love: Farewell. Crazed with grief, Orpheus wandered the hills of Greece until he was murdered. The Muses buried him, and Apollo placed his magical harp in the sky -- as Lyra.

Lyra's brightest star, Vega, is only about 25 light-years away, making it one of our closest neighbors. It shines pure white, which tells us that its surface is thousands of degrees hotter than the surface of the Sun. Astronomers use Vega as a reference star to define zero magnitude. Magnitude is the numerical scale astronomers use to measure, in a relative way, a star’s brightness in the sky.

Lyra hosts the "radiant" for the Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks each April. That means that if you trace their paths back across the sky, the meteors all appears to "rain" into Earth's atmosphere from the direction of Lyra. The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, having been observed for 2,700 years. The first recorded sighting of a Lyrid meteor shower goes back to 687 BC by the Chinese. The Lyrids are known for their fast and bright meteors, though not as fast or as plentiful as the famous Perseids. in August, Typically, the Lyrics produce 10 - 20 meteors per hour, however every 33 years they can surprise watchers with as many as 100 meteors seen per hour.

The most famous deep sky object in Lyra is M57., otherwise known as the Ring Nebula. It is bright enough to be seen through a telescope under even moderately light polluted skies.

Cygnus

The brightest stars of Cygnus, the swan, form a cross, an asterism also known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus is one of the easiest constellations to find for this reason. In June and July, Cygnus is visible in the north-eastern sky from around 10 pm, and by 2 am the constellation will be directly overhead and will stay high in the sky until day break. From August to September, the constellation will appear high in the eastern sky from around 9 pm, staying high in the sky for several hours before heading towards the north-western horizon.

There are several different stories associated with the Cygnus constellation. One story involves the Greek mythological character of Leda, who was the Queen of Sparta. As with many ancient Greek myths, the amorous advances of the King of Gods Zeus plays a major part in the story. Zeus would often disguise himself as an animal in order to win favour or trick the objects of his affections, and this story is no different. This time his eye was drawn to Leda, and he took his chance when one day when she was attacked by an eagle. Zeus disguised himself as a swan and took the queen under his wings. Leda later produced two eggs, with a set of twins being born from each. From each egg one sibling was fathered by Zeus, the other by the King of Sparta. From one egg the brothers Castor and Pollux emerged, and from the other the twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra were born. To celebrate the births Zeus placed the swan amongst the stars.

The constellation's brightest star is Deneb, an Arabic word that means "the tail." Deneb represents the tail of the swan but the top of the cross. The swan's outstretched wings form the horizontal bar of the cross, while the head of the swan, a beautiful double star called AlbireoLinks to an external site., is at the bottom of the cross.

Although it lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth, Deneb shines brightly in our night sky because it's a white supergiant, a star that's much larger, hotter, and brighter than the Sun. Deneb is the northeastern point of an asterism called the Summer Triangle. The other two stars in the Summer Triangle are Vega, in the constellation Lyra, and Altair, in the constellation Aquila.

Albireo is composed of a yellow star, which is in fact itself a close binary star, and a fainter blue companion star. The contrast between the stars makes Albireo a popular target among amateur astronomers. Use a telescope for the best view.

Aquila

Aquila glides on outstretched wings through the glowing band of the Milky Way. Aquila is well placed for viewing throughout the summer and autumn.

In Greek mythology, Aquila is identified as the eagle that carried Zeus’ thunderbolts, and was once dispatched by the god to carry Ganymede, the young Trojan boy Zeus desired, to Olympus to be the cup bearer of the gods. Ganymede is represented by the neighbouring constellation Aquarius.

The brightest star in Aquila is Altair, "the eagle," a white star that is about 17 light-years from Earth. Altair is the southern point of a pattern of three bright stars called the Summer Triangle. (Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus, forms the triangle's northeastern point. Vega, in Lyra, is in the northwest. Altair is nice and bright and easy to find right up to the beginning of winter). Altair is about twice as massive as the Sun, so it will live only about two billion years versus the Sun's 10 billion. Despite its size, Altair appears to turn on its axis once every 10 hours, compared to about four weeks for the Sun. One of the effects of Altair's high-speed rotation is that its gas is forced outward at the equator, giving the star a flattened appearance -- it is about 14 percent wider through the equator than through the poles. If Altair spun about twice as fast as it does now it would fly apart.

The Pioneer 11 spacecraft, which was launched in 1973, is heading toward one of the eagle's stars, Lambda Aquilae, which is 125 light-years away. Pioneer will pass the star in about four million years. Although the spacecraft has already expired, it carries a message from home: a small plaque with information about the craft and its makers, a greeting to the galaxy from the people who made Pioneer 11.

Scorpius

Three bright stars form the "head" of Scorpius, the celestial scorpion, while its tail curves away below it in the southern sky of summer. In order to view Scorpius you will need a clear view of the southern horizon. In July and August the constellation will be visible low in the southern night sky between the hours of 10 pm and midnight.

In Greek mythology, Scorpius represents a scorpion that was sent into the heavens after being killed by the great hunter Orion. The scorpion was sent to destroy Orion by Gaia the Goddess of Earth after the great hunter grew arrogant of his powers. Following the scorpion’s placement amongst the stars, another myth grew involving Phaeton, the mortal son of the Sun God Helios. Each day Helios rode his sun chariot around the Earth, bringing light and warmth to the world. One day Helios allowed Phaeton to drive the chariot, with disastrous consequences. Phaeton drove the chariot too high which froze the Earth. As he rose higher in the sky, he neared Scorpius. The scorpion reacted by raising its stinger. Noticing that the scorpion was about to attack, Phaeton steered the chariot back towards Earth. Unfortunately, he got too close, and as a result set fire to the land, turning parts of the Earth into desert.

The brightest star in Scorpius is Antares, which is in the middle of the scorpion's curving body. This brilliant red star is one of the behemoths of our stellar neighborhood. If you placed it at the center of our own solar system, it would swallow Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and almost reach Jupiter. Antares is at least 15 times as massive as the Sun. The pressure in the centers of such stars makes them extremely hot. The heat allows chemical elements to fuse together to make heavier ones. So by the end of its life, Antares will have built up an iron core surrounded by layers of oxygen, carbon, silicon, and other elements. And at the end of its life, Antares will explode as a supernova. The extreme heat of the blast will produce elements that are even heavier than iron, elements like lead, uranium, and gold. The explosion will hurl these elements outward at a few percent of the speed of light. Eventually, some of the debris may ram into clouds of cold gas and dust, squeezing them and causing them to collapse and give birth to new stars and planets. These newborn objects will be seeded with the elements created by the supernova.

Because Scorpius lies along the path of the Milky Way, it is speckled with bright star clusters and nebulae, including the clusters M6 (also known as the Butterfly Cluster) and M7, which are above the two stars that mark the scorpion's stinger. M7 is the brighter of the two. It is almost 1,000 light-years away, and its several hundred stars all are about 200 million to 300 million years old. Several of its stars are nearing the ends of their lives, so they have puffed up to gigantic proportions, helping M7 stand out. M6 is farther than M7, so it doesn’t look as big or bright, so you need dark skies to see it without optical aid. Through binoculars or a telescope, the cluster’s colorful stars form a pattern that resembles the outline of a butterfly.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius, the archer, slides low across the southern sky of summer. Sagittarius is a centaur, a mythological half-man, half-horse, who has drawn his bow. His arrow is pointing at Antares, the bright red heart of Scorpius, the scorpion. In order to view Sagittarius you will need a clear view of the southern horizon. In August, the constellation will be visible low in the southern night sky between the hours of 10pm and 2am. In September, it is visible between the hours of 9pm and midnight.

The mythology behind Sagittarius is extremely complicated and uncertain. Indeed, some argue that the constellation doesn’t represent a centaur at all but a creature that is actually half man half goat. It has been suggested that the archer which represents the human half of Sagittarius is Chiron, who unlike the other centaurs was cultured and kind hearted. This has been disputed, as Chiron is associated with the southern hemisphere constellation of Centaurus. Whichever he may be, one thing is undisputed, his arrow is pointed at the heart of the constellation of Scorpius, which is represented by the bright red star Antares. Sagittarius appears to be avenging Orion, who was slain by the scorpion's sting.

To most modern eyes, the brightest stars of Sagittarius appear to outline not a mythological creature but a teapot. Steam pours from the spout, the hazy star clouds of the Milky Way. A supermassive black hole, located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is immersed in that steam, about 26,000 light-years away. The black hole is called “supermassive” because it has a mass of over 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Although the galaxy's core is packed with stars, interstellar dust between the core and Earth absorbs most of its light, rendering it invisible except to instruments that study wavelengths of light that penetrate the dust.

The steam above the spout includes two nebulae that are giving birth to new star clusters: M8 (the Lagoon Nebula) and M20 (the Trifid Nebula). The Lagoon has given birth to scores of stars, with more taking shape even now. Through binoculars or a small telescope, it looks like a hazy oval of light. Photographs show a reddish-pink glow, which is the color of hydrogen atoms being zapped by the radiation of young stars. Lanes of dark dust across the face of M20 give it a three-part appearance. A young star at the center of the nebula, which lights up much of the material around it, is triggering the formation of more than a hundred other stars.

Sagittarius also contains several globular clusters, which are tightly packed collections of hundreds of thousands of stars. One of these, M22, is easily located in binoculars or a telescope just above the spout of the teapot, and is one of the nearest globular clusters to Earth at a distance of approximately 10,600 light years.

Capricorn

Capricornus, the sea goat, bounds low across the southern sky in late summer and fall. Like all the constellations of the zodiac, Capricornus has as many mythological tales as it has stars. In July, Capricornus is visible from around midnight low in the south-eastern night sky, moving gradually westward across the southern horizon over the next few hours before daybreak. In August and September the constellation will appear low in the south-eastern night sky between 9 and 10pm, and by around 3 to 4am it will begin to dip below the south-western horizon.

Capricornus is based on extremely ancient mythology dating back some 4,000 years. It has always been associated with a mythological half goat half fish creature. In Greek mythology, the constellation of Capricornus is associated with Pan, the god of the wild and music of the countryside. Pan was a faun, which were half human half goat creatures that personified and embodied the spirits of animals which dwelt in forests and other remote areas. Pan was involved in the “War of the Gods”, which was fought between Zeus and his allies against the Titans, a group of powerful gods descended from Gaia and Uranus. Pan took the side of Zeus, and during one of the battles he was attacked by the gigantic and destructive monster Typhon. Pan leaped into the river Nile to escape Typhon, and in doing so transformed his goat legs into a fish’s tail, allowing himself to swim to safety. Zeus honored Pan by placing the image of him with the tail of a fish in the night sky.

Capricornus looks like a large triangle of fairly bright stars. The brightest stars are side-by-side at the triangle's western tip. Farthest west is Giedi, the goat. Binoculars reveal that this is really two stars. Although the stars appear near each other, they're really separated by a thousand light-years. The closer of the two is about 115 light-years from Earth, while the other is 10 times farther. Just southeast of Giedi is Dabih, the slaughterer, a name that refers to sacrifices made by ancient Arabs when Capricornus rose at the same time as the Sun. It, too, consists of more than one star.

Aquarius

Thanks to its position in the zodiac, not to mention a hit Broadway song, Aquarius the water bearer is one of the most famous constellations. But few people actually see it because it's so faint. It is home to the summer Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which, like the constellation itself, is fairly thin and sparse.

Aquarius, one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac, is best viewed during the evening skies of late summer and early autumn, when it scoots across the south and is in view all night. It is one of 48 ancient constellations listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy almost 2,000 years ago. It's the tenth-largest of the 88 modern constellations.

Several of its stars have names that signify luck or good fortune. The most prominent examples are the constellation's two brightest stars, Sadalmelik and Sadalsuud. The names are from ancient Arabic, and mean "lucky one of the king" and "luckiest of the lucky." The names may refer to the stars' positions. When the constellations were named, the Sun passed through this region of the sky in early spring, when the long nights of winter had passed and the new season brought life-giving rains. Aquarius is one of several "watery" constellations in that part of the sky.

The constellation is home to the globular cluster M2. It is 38,000 light-years from Earth, but is bright enough to see through binoculars because it consists of about 100,000 stars packed into a dense ball just a few light-years in diameter. The cluster is one of the oldest objects in the galaxy, so all of its bright, heavy stars have long since expired. The brightest stars in M2 today are yellow and orange giants, stars that were once like the Sun, but that expanded and brightened as they consumed the nuclear fuel in their cores. M2 doesn't belong to the Milky Way galaxy’s flat disk. In fact, the disk didn’t even exist when M2 was born. Instead, M2 is part of the galaxy’s halo, a shell of stars that surrounds the disk.

Pegasus

Pegasus is a large pattern of stars marked by a great square — four bright stars that form the body of the winged horse. From July to August, Pegasus will first appear low on the eastern horizon between 10pm and midnight, and by around 4am the constellation will be directly overhead. From September to October, the constellation will be visible in the eastern sky around 8pm, and by midnight it will be directly overhead before heading towards the north-western horizon.

Pegasus is a winged stallion horse derived from Greek mythology, a divine creature that brought forth springs from the Earth wherever it walked. Pegasus was also a servant to Zeus the King of Gods, obeying his every command. There are several variations of how Pegasus was born, the most common version involves the Greek hero Perseus and his slaying of Medusa. As anyone who has seen the film “Jason and the Argonauts” will know Medusa was a monster with snakes for hair and whose gaze could turn a man to stone. Perseus was giving the task of slaying Medusa in her sea cave and did so successfully by using mirrors to avoid her stare. After cutting of her head with his sword, the monster’s blood mingled with the sea water resulting in Pegasus being born from the cave floor, along with his brother in the form of a young man named Chrysaor. Pegasus’s mother is therefore considered to be Medusa and his father Poseidon God of the Sea.

The brightest star in the Great Square, Alpheratz, isn't in the constellation Pegasus. It's in Andromeda, which is just northeast of Pegasus. It is part of the ancient sky picture that we know as Pegasus. But when astronomers drew the official boundaries for the constellations, this star was placed just across the line in Andromeda.

Another star in Pegasus, II Pegasi, produced a monster flare a few years ago, a powerful explosion on its surface that generated a torrent of energy and charged particles. The flare was 100 million times more powerful than a typical flare on the Sun. If Earth orbited II Pegasi, such a monster would obliterate the ozone layer and alter the climate, and probably kill much of the planet's life.

Pisces

In the lore of the sky, spring is associated with the constellation Aries, the ram. Yet at the moment of the vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, the Sun actually stands within the borders of the next constellation over, Pisces, the fishes. In August and September, Pisces appears low in the eastern horizon around 11pm, and by around 3am it will be high in the southern night sky before moving off towards the western horizon.

The constellation of Pisces is based on a tale from Greek mythology and involves three main characters. Firstly we have Typhon, son of the Earth Goddess Gaia. Typhon was a gigantic monster who was as tall and wide as the mountains with the head of a hundred dragons. Typhon could breathe fire from his many eyes and was capable of destruction on a massive scale. He was the most fierce and the most feared monster in Greek mythology. One day Gaia ordered Typhon to destroy Olympus, home of the Gods. On his approach to Olympus the Gods began to flee, including the other two characters in the tale, Aphrodite the Goddess of Beauty and her son Eros, the God of Love. After reaching a river bank, Aphrodite and Eros tie a rope to each other and turn themselves into fish before leaping into the water. The rope prevented them from becoming separated as they eventually swam to safety. To celebrate the event, the figures of two fish were later placed amongst the stars.

Several thousand years ago, when the zodiac was first drawn, the Sun stood inside Aries at the time of the equinox. And today, the March equinox is still known as the "first point of Aries." Yet the Sun has moved from Aries into Pisces because of an effect known as precession. It is a wobble in Earth's rotation caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon. As a result of this wobble, the point of the equinox moves all the way around the sky. That means that as the centuries roll by, the Sun appears against different stars at the equinox.

Pisces, which is best viewed during autumn and winter evenings, is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Despite this claim to fame, though, Pisces is tough to see. Even its brightest stars are no match for the light pollution from many cities and suburbs. Although none of its stars is particularly impressive, Pisces is home to several beautiful galaxies, all of which require at least an 8-inch telescope to see well. One of the most prominent is M74, a spiral galaxy that we view almost exactly face on. It's just 24 million light-years away. M74 resembles a slightly smaller version of the Milky Way, so it looks like a glowing cosmic pinwheel. Its spiral arms contain clouds of gas and dust that create new stars. The brightest and hottest of these new stars are blue, giving the spiral arms a blue tint.

Cassiopeia

From October to December, Cassiopeia will appear high in the sky in the north-east at around 6 pm, and within a few hours the constellation will move overhead before dipping back down towards the horizon in a north-westerly direction. Cassiopeia looks like a flattened "W" against the frothy background of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Cassiopeia was a queen from Greek mythology whose legendary vanity and arrogance ultimately led to her downfall. Cassiopeia was the wife of King Cepheus of Aethiopia and mother to the beautiful Princess Andromeda. One day Cassiopeia proclaimed to the Nereids, female spirits of the sea famed for their beauty, that both she and her daughter were more beautiful and radiant than any of them. The Nereids passed on their displeasure at Cassiopeia’s vain comments to the sea god Poseidon, who immediately dispatched a sea monster to destroy Aethiopia. Shocked at the attack, Cepheus consulted an oracle who advised him that the only way to appease Poseidon was to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda. Cepheus and Cassiopeia accepted the advice and chained their daughter to a rock as an offering to the sea monster. Luckily for Andromeda she was rescued by the hero Perseus. As an alternative punishment Poseidon sent Cassiopeia into the heavens, spinning around on her throne for eternity.

Many star clusters can be seen in Cassiopeia using binoculars or a telescope.

Perseus

In October and November, Perseus will be visible low on the horizon in the north-east around 8pm, and by 3am the constellation will be directly overhead before moving towards the north-western horizon.

Perseus was a Greek mythological hero whose adventures provide the background stories of other constellations. He was fathered by the King of Gods Zeus who seduced his mother Danae, a beautiful princess whose father was the King of Argos. The King of Argos previously consulted an Oracle who predicted that his daughter’s son would eventually kill him. After Perseus was born, the King placed his daughter and newly born grandson into a wooden chest and sent them adrift into the sea. The pair survived and landed safely on an island, where they were taken in by a local nobleman who raised the young hero through his childhood. Once Perseus had reached adulthood, the nobleman sent him on his most famous adventure, to slay Medusa, a snake haired Gorgon whose gaze could turn a man to stone. Perseus managed to cut off the monster’s head, avoiding her gaze with the aid of mirrors. Perseus did eventually kill the King of Argos, striking him accidentally in the head with a javelin at an athletic competition.

One of the brightest and most interesting stars in Perseus is Algol. The name Algol means "demon star." Ancient skywatchers thought it was cursed because its brightness changes. That's because Algol is the most famous eclipsing binary star and the first one to be discovered. Today, astronomers know that Algol is actually a three star system located around 90 light years from Earth, the primary star is eclipsed by one of its less bright companions every 3 days causing its brightness to dip considerably for several hours.

The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long trails of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also very bright, and can even briefly illuminate the surrounding terrain.

Auriga

Auriga, the celestial charioteer, has neither chariot nor horse. Instead, he's drawn as a man holding the reins in his right hand, with a goat on his left shoulder and two baby goats in his left arm. Auriga actually looks more like a pentagon than a charioteer. Auriga will be visible most of the night high in the sky in October - December.

The constellation Auriga has an uncertain origin. It might represent Neptune rising from the sea in a chariot, or it might honor a legendary king of Athens. According to this tale, he invented a chariot that was drawn by four horses.

The brightest star in Auriga is Capella, one of the few bright stars that is yellow like our Sun. The similar color indicates that they have roughly the same surface temperature. The light from Capella actually comes from two separate stars. Both are yellow, and lie about 43 light-years from Earth. Each star emits dozens of times more light than the Sun. Its brightness and position in the night sky have made Capella an important star in many cultures. An example is the ancient Mexican city of Monte Alban, where a temple was dedicated to astronomical observations. Some of its structures were aligned with the point on the horizon where Capella made its first dawn appearance. That appearance happened on one of the two days of the year when the Sun passed directly overhead. So Capella might have acted like a warning flag, alerting the city's leaders that the time for the year's most important ceremonies was at hand.

Taurus

From October to November, the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, will appear low in the eastern night sky around 10 pm and continue westward until day breaks around 6 to 7 am.

The constellation Taurus is associated with Greek mythology. As with many Greek myths it revolves around the amorous attentions of the King of Gods Zeus. This time the focus of his affection was on the beautiful Europa, daughter of King Agenor. In order to woo his victims, Zeus would often turn to disguise, and this story is no different. This time he would disguise himself as a beautiful bull and place himself amongst King Agenor’s herd. One day Europa spotted the bull and became mesmerized by its beauty. She approached it and climbed on its back. The bull headed towards the beach but then surprised Europa by leaping into the sea and taking her to the island of Crete. Once there, the bull revealed himself as Zeus and proclaimed that she would become his mistress. Europa would eventually have three sons by Zeus. He would later commemorate his conquest by placing the bull in the night sky.

Taurus the Bull is marked by a V-shaped pattern of stars, known as the Hyades, that outlines the bull's face. The Hyades, at a distance of about 130 light years, is the second-closest star cluster to Earth. Aldebaran, the "eye" of the bull, outshines all the other stars that outline the bull's face. But Aldebaran isn't a member of the Hyades cluster — it just lies in the same direction. It's about 70 light-years away, half as far as the stars of the Hyades. Aldebaran is a red-giant — an old, bloated star that's used up most of its nuclear fuel. It's much larger and much brighter than our own middle-aged Sun.

There are two other astronomical objects of interest in Taurus. Also known as M45 or Seven Sisters, the Pleiades. is a star cluster that can be viewed with the naked eye. The cluster is made up of young and extremely bright stars that began forming around 100 million years ago. At a distance of around 400 light years away it is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, and contains hundreds of stars. The Crab Nebula, otherwise known as M1, is the result of a massive supernova explosion that was witnessed by far eastern astronomers in the 11th century. Nebulae which are born in this violent fashion are known as supernova remnants. The Crab Nebula is vast, perhaps around 10 light years across and lies around 6,000 light years from Earth.

Ursa Major

Ursa Major, the great bear, is always above the horizon in northern latitudes. Ursa Major is best known as the home of the asterism called the Big Dipper. From October to December, it will appear low on the horizon in the north-west at around 6 pm, and it will stay quite low on the horizon moving eastwards until around midnight before moving higher in the sky until day breaks around 6 am.

Of all the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is the most universally recognized. The dipper's seven bright stars form a portion of the great bear. It's hard to see the rest of the bear, especially from light-polluted cities. After you locate the dipper, look at the two stars that mark the outer edge of its bowl. Now connect these two stars, then extend the line above the dipper's bowl. Polaris, the north star, lies along this line, about five times the distance between the two pointers. No matter where the Big Dipper is in our sky, those two stars always point to Polaris.

he myth of Ursa Major involves the character Callisto from Greek mythology, a beautiful woman who was an attendant of Artemis, the Goddess of hunting and protector of girls. Callisto took a vow of chastity and became a favored hunting companion of Artemis. One day Zeus noticed the beautiful young Callisto and tricked her into breaking her vow of chastity. As a result she fell pregnant and was banished into the wild by Artemis. Eventually Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. Hera, the wife of Zeus soon heard of her husband’s indiscretion and took vengeance on Callisto by turning her into a bear. One day, after many years of wandering the wilderness alone, Callisto accidentally encountered her long lost son. Not recognizing his mother, Arcas is about to kill Callisto when Zeus intervenes and sends her into the heavens as Ursa Major (Great Bear) and her son as Ursa Minor (Little Bear).

Many galaxies can be seen in Ursa Major using a telescope.

Hercules

Hercules is a hero from Greek mythology and his adventures provide the basis for several other constellations. Although he is commonly referred to as Hercules this is actually the Roman translation of his name from the Greek Heracles. From September to November, Hercules will first appear in the western night sky between 6 and 9 pm depending on the month, before dipping below the north-western horizon over the next few hours.

Hercules was an illegitimate child of Zeus, the King of Gods. His mother was Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Zeus disguised himself as Alcmene's husband in order to bed her, she later gave birth to twins, one of which was Hercules who was fathered by Zeus, the other by her husband. Throughout his life Hercules was taunted by his step-mother Hera, the wife of Zeus, her actions eventually drove Hercules insane which led to him killing his children in a fit of rage. As a way of atoning for his act of madness Hercules was ordered to carry out twelve labors which he eventually completed. The constellation Hercules is usually associated with the penultimate labour of Heracles, which involved killing the dragon Ladon, who guarded the garden of the Hesperides. The dragon is represented by the constellation Draco. Hercules constellation was first catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.

One of the most notable deep sky objects in Hercules is the globular cluster M13. M13, also known as the Hercules Globular Cluster or Great Globular Cluster, consists of about 300,000 stars and is approximately 22,200 light years distant. The Hercules Globular Cluster was discovered by the English astronomer Edmond Halley in 1714 and included in Messier’s catalogue as Messier 13 on June 1, 1764. The cluster can easily be seen in small telescopes, and can even be seen (although barely) with the naked eye. The Arecibo message, sent in 1974 into space to let hypothetical extraterrestrials know about life on our planet, was transmitted in the direction of M13, as it was believed that, because star density was higher in that area of space, chances of finding a planet that harbors life were greater too. By the time the message gets there, however, M13 will have moved to a different location.

Lyra

The constellation Lyra, the harp, is easy to find by first locating Vega, one of the brightest stars in Earth's night sky. Lyra looks like a small, lopsided square, with Vega just beside one of the corners of the square. From August to September, Lyra will appear overhead around 10 pm, slowly dipping towards the horizon in the north-west over the next few hours. From October to December, it will be visible high in the western sky between 6 and 7 pm, before disappearing below the horizon several hours later.

The legend of Lyra tells the story of Orpheus, who was given a harp by the god Apollo. Orpheus' music was sweeter than that of any other mortal man. It could soothe any savage, and bring joy to the heart of the weary. It was even said that rivers changed course to stay near its beauty. Orpheus married the lovely maiden Eurydice, but after their wedding, as she walked with her bridesmaids, she was bitten by a snake and died. Orpheus was so stricken with grief that he journeyed to the underworld to win her return. His music not only gained him entry to Hades, it caused Pluto, the god of the underworld, to soften his heart and grant Orpheus' wish. But there was one condition: Eurydice would follow Orpheus, who could not look back until both had gained the upper world. Orpheus followed his instructions, until he reached the surface. Before Eurydice could take the final steps into the light, he turned to gaze upon her. She vanished, with only one word to her love: Farewell. Crazed with grief, Orpheus wandered the hills of Greece until he was murdered. The Muses buried him, and Apollo placed his magical harp in the sky -- as Lyra.

Lyra's brightest star, Vega, is only about 25 light-years away, making it one of our closest neighbors. It shines pure white, which tells us that its surface is thousands of degrees hotter than the surface of the Sun. Astronomers use Vega as a reference star to define zero magnitude. Magnitude is the numerical scale astronomers use to measure, in a relative way, a star’s brightness in the sky.

Lyra hosts the "radiant" for the Lyrid meteor shower, which peaks each April. That means that if you trace their paths back across the sky, the meteors all appears to "rain" into Earth's atmosphere from the direction of Lyra. The Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, having been observed for 2,700 years. The first recorded sighting of a Lyrid meteor shower goes back to 687 BC by the Chinese. The Lyrids are known for their fast and bright meteors, though not as fast or as plentiful as the famous Perseids in August, Typically, the Lyrics produce 10 - 20 meteors per hour, however every 33 years they can surprise watchers with as many as 100 meteors seen per hour.

The most famous deep sky object in Lyra is M57, otherwise known as the Ring Nebula. It is bright enough to be seen through a telescope under even moderately light polluted skies.

Cygnus

The brightest stars of Cygnus, the swan, form a cross, an asterism also known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus is one of the easiest constellations to find for this reason. From October to November, Cygnus will appear overhead from around 7 pm before gradually dipping towards the north-western horizon over the next few hours.

There are several different stories associated with the Cygnus constellation. One story involves the Greek mythological character of Leda, who was the Queen of Sparta. As with many ancient Greek myths, the amorous advances of the King of Gods Zeus plays a major part in the story. Zeus would often disguise himself as an animal in order to win favour or trick the objects of his affections, and this story is no different. This time his eye was drawn to Leda, and he took his chance when one day when she was attacked by an eagle. Zeus disguised himself as a swan and took the queen under his wings. Leda later produced two eggs, with a set of twins being born from each. From each egg one sibling was fathered by Zeus, the other by the King of Sparta. From one egg the brothers Castor and Pollux emerged, and from the other the twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra were born. To celebrate the births Zeus placed the swan amongst the stars.

The constellation's brightest star is Deneb, an Arabic word that means "the tail." Deneb represents the tail of the swan but the top of the cross. The swan's outstretched wings form the horizontal bar of the cross, while the head of the swan, a beautiful double star called AlbireoLinks to an external site., is at the bottom of the cross.

Although it lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth, Deneb shines brightly in our night sky because it's a white supergiant, a star that's much larger, hotter, and brighter than the Sun. Deneb is the northeastern point of an asterism called the Summer Triangle. The other two stars in the Summer Triangle are Vega, in the constellation Lyra, and Altair, in the constellation Aquila.

Albireo is composed of a yellow star, which is in fact itself a close binary star, and a fainter blue companion star. The contrast between the stars makes Albireo a popular target among amateur astronomers. Use a telescope for the best view.

Aquila

Aquila glides on outstretched wings through the glowing band of the Milky Way. Aquila is well placed for viewing throughout the summer and autumn.

In Greek mythology, Aquila is identified as the eagle that carried Zeus’ thunderbolts, and was once dispatched by the god to carry Ganymede, the young Trojan boy Zeus desired, to Olympus to be the cup bearer of the gods. Ganymede is represented by the neighbouring constellation Aquarius.

The brightest star in Aquila is Altair, "the eagle," a white star that is about 17 light-years from Earth. Altair is the southern point of a pattern of three bright stars called the Summer Triangle. (Deneb, in the constellation Cygnus, forms the triangle's northeastern point. Vega, in Lyra, is in the northwest. Altair is nice and bright and easy to find right up to the beginning of winter). Altair is about twice as massive as the Sun, so it will live only about two billion years versus the Sun's 10 billion. Despite its size, Altair appears to turn on its axis once every 10 hours, compared to about four weeks for the Sun. One of the effects of Altair's high-speed rotation is that its gas is forced outward at the equator, giving the star a flattened appearance -- it is about 14 percent wider through the equator than through the poles. If Altair spun about twice as fast as it does now it would fly apart.

The Pioneer 11 spacecraft, which was launched in 1973, is heading toward one of the eagle's stars, Lambda Aquilae, which is 125 light-years away. Pioneer will pass the star in about four million years. Although the spacecraft has already expired, it carries a message from home: a small plaque with information about the craft and its makers, a greeting to the galaxy from the people who made Pioneer 11.

Sagittarius

Sagittarius, the archer, slides low across the southern sky of summer. Sagittarius is a centaur, a mythological half-man, half-horse, who has drawn his bow. His arrow is pointing at Antares, the bright red heart of Scorpius, the scorpion. In order to view Sagittarius you will need a clear view of the southern horizon. In October Sagittarius is visible briefly between the hours of 8pm and 10pm in the southwest.

The mythology behind Sagittarius is extremely complicated and uncertain. Indeed, some argue that the constellation doesn’t represent a centaur at all but a creature that is actually half man half goat. It has been suggested that the archer which represents the human half of Sagittarius is Chiron, who unlike the other centaurs was cultured and kind hearted. This has been disputed, as Chiron is associated with the southern hemisphere constellation of Centaurus. Whichever he may be, one thing is undisputed, his arrow is pointed at the heart of the constellation of Scorpius, which is represented by the bright red star Antares. Sagittarius appears to be avenging Orion, who was slain by the scorpion's sting.

To most modern eyes, the brightest stars of Sagittarius appear to outline not a mythological creature but a teapot. Steam pours from the spout, the hazy star clouds of the Milky Way. A supermassive black hole, located at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, is immersed in that steam, about 26,000 light-years away. The black hole is called “supermassive” because it has a mass of over 4 million times the mass of the Sun. Although the galaxy's core is packed with stars, interstellar dust between the core and Earth absorbs most of its light, rendering it invisible except to instruments that study wavelengths of light that penetrate the dust.

The steam above the spout includes two nebulae that are giving birth to new star clusters: M8 (the Lagoon Nebula) and M20 (the Trifid Nebula). The Lagoon has given birth to scores of stars, with more taking shape even now. Through binoculars or a small telescope, it looks like a hazy oval of light. Photographs show a reddish-pink glow, which is the color of hydrogen atoms being zapped by the radiation of young stars. Lanes of dark dust across the face of M20 give it a three-part appearance. A young star at the center of the nebula, which lights up much of the material around it, is triggering the formation of more than a hundred other stars.

Sagittarius also contains several globular clusters, which are tightly packed collections of hundreds of thousands of stars. One of these, M22, is easily located in binoculars or a telescope just above the spout of the teapot, and is one of the nearest globular clusters to Earth at a distance of approximately 10,600 light years.

Capricorn

Capricornus, the sea goat, bounds low across the southern sky in late summer and fall. Like all the constellations of the zodiac, Capricornus has as many mythological tales as it has stars. In October and November it will be visible in the southern night sky from around 7 to 8pm. In October the constellation will begin to dip below the south-western horizon around 1am, and in November around 10pm.

Capricornus is based on extremely ancient mythology dating back some 4,000 years. It has always been associated with a mythological half goat half fish creature. In Greek mythology, the constellation of Capricornus is associated with Pan, the god of the wild and music of the countryside. Pan was a faun, which were half human half goat creatures that personified and embodied the spirits of animals which dwelt in forests and other remote areas. Pan was involved in the “War of the Gods”, which was fought between Zeus and his allies against the Titans, a group of powerful gods descended from Gaia and Uranus. Pan took the side of Zeus, and during one of the battles he was attacked by the gigantic and destructive monster Typhon. Pan leaped into the river Nile to escape Typhon, and in doing so transformed his goat legs into a fish’s tail, allowing himself to swim to safety. Zeus honored Pan by placing the image of him with the tail of a fish in the night sky.

Capricornus looks like a large triangle of fairly bright stars. The brightest stars are side-by-side at the triangle's western tip. Farthest west is Giedi, the goat. Binoculars reveal that this is really two stars. Although the stars appear near each other, they're really separated by a thousand light-years. The closer of the two is about 115 light-years from Earth, while the other is 10 times farther. Just southeast of Giedi is Dabih, the slaughterer, a name that refers to sacrifices made by ancient Arabs when Capricornus rose at the same time as the Sun. It, too, consists of more than one star.

Aquarius

Thanks to its position in the zodiac, not to mention a hit Broadway song, Aquarius the water bearer is one of the most famous constellations. But few people actually see it because it's so faint. It is home to the summer Delta Aquarid meteor shower, which, like the constellation itself, is fairly thin and sparse.

Aquarius, one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac, is best viewed during the evening skies of late summer and early autumn, when it scoots across the south and is in view all night. It is one of 48 ancient constellations listed by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy almost 2,000 years ago. It's the tenth-largest of the 88 modern constellations.

Several of its stars have names that signify luck or good fortune. The most prominent examples are the constellation's two brightest stars, Sadalmelik and Sadalsuud. The names are from ancient Arabic, and mean "lucky one of the king" and "luckiest of the lucky." The names may refer to the stars' positions. When the constellations were named, the Sun passed through this region of the sky in early spring, when the long nights of winter had passed and the new season brought life-giving rains. Aquarius is one of several "watery" constellations in that part of the sky.

The constellation is home to the globular cluster M2. It is 38,000 light-years from Earth, but is bright enough to see through binoculars because it consists of about 100,000 stars packed into a dense ball just a few light-years in diameter. The cluster is one of the oldest objects in the galaxy, so all of its bright, heavy stars have long since expired. The brightest stars in M2 today are yellow and orange giants, stars that were once like the Sun, but that expanded and brightened as they consumed the nuclear fuel in their cores. M2 doesn't belong to the Milky Way galaxy’s flat disk. In fact, the disk didn’t even exist when M2 was born. Instead, M2 is part of the galaxy’s halo, a shell of stars that surrounds the disk.

Pegasus

Pegasus is a large pattern of stars marked by a great square — four bright stars that form the body of the winged horse. From September to October, the constellation will be visible in the eastern sky around 8pm, and by midnight it will be directly overhead before heading towards the north-western horizon. In November to January, Pegasus can be seen either high in the eastern sky, or directly overhead, from around 6pm before it moves westwards as the night goes on.

Pegasus is a winged stallion horse derived from Greek mythology, a divine creature that brought forth springs from the Earth wherever it walked. Pegasus was also a servant to Zeus the King of Gods, obeying his every command. There are several variations of how Pegasus was born, the most common version involves the Greek hero Perseus and his slaying of Medusa. As anyone who has seen the film “Jason and the Argonauts” will know Medusa was a monster with snakes for hair and whose gaze could turn a man to stone. Perseus was giving the task of slaying Medusa in her sea cave and did so successfully by using mirrors to avoid her stare. After cutting of her head with his sword, the monster’s blood mingled with the sea water resulting in Pegasus being born from the cave floor, along with his brother in the form of a young man named Chrysaor. Pegasus’s mother is therefore considered to be Medusa and his father Poseidon God of the Sea.

The brightest star in the Great Square, Alpheratz, isn't in the constellation Pegasus. It's in Andromeda, which is just northeast of Pegasus. It is part of the ancient sky picture that we know as Pegasus. But when astronomers drew the official boundaries for the constellations, this star was placed just across the line in Andromeda.

Another star in Pegasus, II Pegasi, produced a monster flare a few years ago, a powerful explosion on its surface that generated a torrent of energy and charged particles. The flare was 100 million times more powerful than a typical flare on the Sun. If Earth orbited II Pegasi, such a monster would obliterate the ozone layer and alter the climate, and probably kill much of the planet's life.

Pisces

In the lore of the sky, spring is associated with the constellation Aries, the ram. Yet at the moment of the vernal equinox, which marks the beginning of spring in the northern hemisphere, the Sun actually stands within the borders of the next constellation over, Pisces, the fishes. In September and October it will appear low in the eastern horizon around 8pm, and by midnight it will high in the southern night sky then continue towards the western horizon until day break. In November it will be visible in the eastern night sky from around 7pm. At around 10pm it will be high in the southern night sky and begin to dip below the western horizon at around 3am. In December, Pisces will first appear high in the southern sky around 6 to 7pm, and by around midnight it will begin to dip below the western horizon.

The constellation of Pisces is based on a tale from Greek mythology and involves three main characters. Firstly we have Typhon, son of the Earth Goddess Gaia. Typhon was a gigantic monster who was as tall and wide as the mountains with the head of a hundred dragons. Typhon could breathe fire from his many eyes and was capable of destruction on a massive scale. He was the most fierce and the most feared monster in Greek mythology. One day Gaia ordered Typhon to destroy Olympus, home of the Gods. On his approach to Olympus the Gods began to flee, including the other two characters in the tale, Aphrodite the Goddess of Beauty and her son Eros, the God of Love. After reaching a river bank, Aphrodite and Eros tie a rope to each other and turn themselves into fish before leaping into the water. The rope prevented them from becoming separated as they eventually swam to safety. To celebrate the event, the figures of two fish were later placed amongst the stars.

Several thousand years ago, when the zodiac was first drawn, the Sun stood inside Aries at the time of the equinox. And today, the March equinox is still known as the "first point of Aries." Yet the Sun has moved from Aries into Pisces because of an effect known as precession. It is a wobble in Earth's rotation caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and Moon. As a result of this wobble, the point of the equinox moves all the way around the sky. That means that as the centuries roll by, the Sun appears against different stars at the equinox.

Pisces, which is best viewed during autumn and winter evenings, is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Despite this claim to fame, though, Pisces is tough to see. Even its brightest stars are no match for the light pollution from many cities and suburbs. Although none of its stars is particularly impressive, Pisces is home to several beautiful galaxies, all of which require at least an 8-inch telescope to see well. One of the most prominent is M74, a spiral galaxy that we view almost exactly face on. It's just 24 million light-years away. M74 resembles a slightly smaller version of the Milky Way, so it looks like a glowing cosmic pinwheel. Its spiral arms contain clouds of gas and dust that create new stars. The brightest and hottest of these new stars are blue, giving the spiral arms a blue tint.

Draco

Draco is one of the largest constellations in the sky. Like Pisces, it is not easy to see due to the faintness of its stars. From October to December, Draco will appear high in the sky in the north-west at around 6 pm, and by 2 am it will be almost directly north and low on the horizon. By day break the constellation will be in a north-easterly direction.

The constellation of Pisces is based on a tale from Greek mythology and involves three main characters. Firstly we have Typhon, son of the Earth Goddess Gaia. Typhon was a gigantic monster who was as tall and wide as the mountains with the head of a hundred dragons. Typhon could breathe fire from his many eyes and was capable of destruction on a massive scale. He was the most fierce and the most feared monster in Greek mythology. One day Gaia ordered Typhon to destroy Olympus, home of the Gods. On his approach to Olympus the Gods began to flee, including the other two characters in the tale, Aphrodite the Goddess of Beauty and her son Eros, the God of Love. After reaching a river bank, Aphrodite and Eros tie a rope to each other and turn themselves into fish before leaping into the water. The rope prevented them from becoming separated as they eventually swam to safety. To celebrate the event, the figures of two fish were later placed amongst the stars.

Draco

Draco is one of the largest constellations in the sky. Like Pisces, it is not easy to see due to the faintness of its stars. From January to March, Draco will first appear low in the horizon in a northerly direction at around 6 pm, and as the night progresses it will become higher in the night sky before disappearing at day break around 7 am.

There are many stories involving dragons or serpent like creatures in Greek mythology, but no one is actually sure which of these tales led to the naming of the constellation Draco. One of the myths involves a multi-headed dragon named Ladon. whose duty was to guard the Gardens of the Hesperides, a beautiful orchard which was cultivated by the wife of Zeus, Hera. The apples that grew on one of the trees were not of the ordinary variety. Known as the golden apples, they granted immortality to anyone who devoured them. The garden was named after the nymphs who looked after the trees in the orchard. The problem was that they would often steal the golden apples for themselves. The placing of Ladon in the gardens soon put an end to the nymph’s mischief, but the dragon would soon come up against a greater foe. The Greek hero Hercules was given the task of stealing the golden apples which he accomplished, at the same time slaying the multi-headed beast.

Andromeda

The constellation of Andromeda appears to form the hind legs of Pegasus the winged horse (discussed in the Autumn Sky section). From December to January, Andromeda will appear overhead at around 6pm, gradually moving towards the north-western horizon as the night moves on. In February, Andromeda is visible in the western sky from around 7pm before disappearing below the north-western horizon by midnight.

Princess Andromeda, whose mother was Queen Cassiopeia (a constellation discussed separately), is a character from Greek mythology. She was famed for her beauty and infamously for her vanity. Her vainness would eventually upset the gods and a sea monster was dispatched to destroy her kingdom. Queen Cassiopeia and her husband King Cepheus (a constellation not discussed due to its difficulty to find) thought the best thing to do would be to chain their daughter Andromeda to a rock as an offering to the sea monster. Luckily Perseus the Hero (discussed separately) was there to save the day. He freed her from her chains and killed the monster. The pair married shortly after and settled in Perseus’s home island. During their marriage they had a total of nine children together. After her death, Andromeda was placed in the heavens alongside her husband Perseus and mother Cassiopeia.

The most interesting object in Andromeda is undoubtedly M31, otherwise known as the Andromeda Galaxy. Even though this galaxy is 2.5 million light years from Earth, it is brighter than many stars in the night sky and is easily visible to the naked eye. As with any astronomical object, binoculars or a telescope will improve the view. The Andromeda galaxy is larger in size than our own Milky Way galaxy, but may be less massive.

Cassiopeia

From January to March, Cassiopeia will first appear almost overhead around 6 pm, and as the evening progresses it will head down towards the horizon in a north-westerly direction. By early morning, Cassiopeia will be low on the horizon in a more northerly or north-easterly direction. Cassiopeia looks like a flattened "W" against the frothy background of our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

Cassiopeia was a queen from Greek mythology whose legendary vanity and arrogance ultimately led to her downfall. Cassiopeia was the wife of King Cepheus of Aethiopia and mother to the beautiful Princess Andromeda. One day Cassiopeia proclaimed to the Nereids, female spirits of the sea famed for their beauty, that both she and her daughter were more beautiful and radiant than any of them. The Nereids passed on their displeasure at Cassiopeia’s vain comments to the sea god Poseidon, who immediately dispatched a sea monster to destroy Aethiopia. Shocked at the attack, Cepheus consulted an oracle who advised him that the only way to appease Poseidon was to sacrifice their daughter Andromeda. Cepheus and Cassiopeia accepted the advice and chained their daughter to a rock as an offering to the sea monster. Luckily for Andromeda she was rescued by the hero Perseus. As an alternative punishment Poseidon sent Cassiopeia into the heavens, spinning around on her throne for eternity.

Many star clusters can be seen in Cassiopeia using binoculars or a telescope.

Aries

In January, Aries, the ram, will appear overhead at around 8pm, gradually moving towards the west-north-western horizon as the night moves on. In February, Aries is visible high in the western sky from around 8pm before disappearing below the west-north-western horizon by midnight.

Aries is a faint pattern marked by only a couple of fairly bright stars: Hamal, its brightest, and Sheratan, its second-brightest. Aries is famous not because of its brilliance, though, but because of its location: It is one of the 12 constellations of the zodiac. These constellations straddle the Sun's path across the sky, known as the ecliptic (the dashed line cutting across the star chart). In ancient times, that gave these regions of the sky extra significance. Aries was the most significant of all. At the time the constellations were named, the Sun appeared against the stars of Aries at the vernal equinox, which is the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere. With the earth awakening from its winter slumber, the equinox was a time of celebration. And it usually marked the beginning of a new year. Today, the Sun's location at the equinox is still known as the "first point of Aries," even though the Sun is in Pisces. The change is caused by a slow wobble in Earth's axis known as precession. The Sun will return to Aries -- and the ram will regain his status as the leader of the zodiacal flock -- when we complete one full wobble, in about 22,000 years.

One of the ram's most important stars is too faint to see without a telescope. Yet half a century ago, it played a key role in a revolutionary discovery: Most of the chemical elements on Earth -- and in our bodies -- were forged in the stars. For a long time, scientists didn't know where the oxygen, silicon, iron, and other heavy elements that make up Earth came from. A faint star in Aries, HD 19445 helped point the way. In 1951, astronomers reported that this star had much less iron and calcium than the Sun. It was a shocking report, because most astronomers thought that nearly all stars had the same composition. Around this time, though, they realized that this iron-deficient star was very old, so it had formed in the galaxy's earliest years. Since the star had little iron, it meant that the young galaxy itself had little iron. The galaxy has grown more iron-rich over time, though, as stars created iron and spewed it into space. So younger stars like the Sun have higher concentrations of iron and other heavy elements than older stars. The implication of this discovery was simple but profound: The stars created the iron in our blood, the calcium in our bones, and the oxygen we breathe.

Perseus

In January, the constellation Perseus the Hero will be visible in the eastern night sky at around 6pm, moving higher in the sky, eventually reaching directly overhead at around 10pm. It will set before daybreak on the north-western horizon. In February and March Perseus will first appear overhead around 7pm, moving towards the north-western horizon as the night moves on.

Perseus was a Greek mythological hero whose adventures provide the background stories of other constellations. He was fathered by the King of Gods Zeus who seduced his mother Danae, a beautiful princess whose father was the King of Argos. The King of Argos previously consulted an Oracle who predicted that his daughter’s son would eventually kill him. After Perseus was born, the King placed his daughter and newly born grandson into a wooden chest and sent them adrift into the sea. The pair survived and landed safely on an island, where they were taken in by a local nobleman who raised the young hero through his childhood. Once Perseus had reached adulthood, the nobleman sent him on his most famous adventure, to slay Medusa, a snake haired Gorgon whose gaze could turn a man to stone. Perseus managed to cut off the monster’s head, avoiding her gaze with the aid of mirrors. Perseus did eventually kill the King of Argos, striking him accidentally in the head with a javelin at an athletic competition.

One of the brightest and most interesting stars in Perseus is Algol. The name Algol means "demon star." Ancient skywatchers thought it was cursed because its brightness changes. That's because Algol is the most famous eclipsing binary star and the first one to be discovered. Today, astronomers know that Algol is actually a three star system located around 90 light years from Earth, the primary star is eclipsed by one of its less bright companions every 3 days causing its brightness to dip considerably for several hours.

The Perseids, which peak during mid-August, are considered the best meteor shower of the year. With very fast and bright meteors, Perseids frequently leave long trails of light and color behind them as they streak through Earth's atmosphere. The Perseids are one of the most plentiful showers (50-100 meteors seen per hour) and occur with warm summer nighttime weather, allowing sky watchers to easily view them.

Perseids are also known for their fireballs. Fireballs are larger explosions of light and color that can persist longer than an average meteor streak. This is due to the fact that fireballs originate from larger particles of cometary material. Fireballs are also very bright, and can even briefly illuminate the surrounding terrain.

Auriga

Auriga, the celestial charioteer, has neither chariot nor horse. Instead, he's drawn as a man holding the reins in his right hand, with a goat on his left shoulder and two baby goats in his left arm. Auriga actually looks more like a pentagon than a charioteer. Look for him cruising high across the southern evening sky in January - March.

The constellation Auriga has an uncertain origin. It might represent Neptune rising from the sea in a chariot, or it might honor a legendary king of Athens. According to this tale, he invented a chariot that was drawn by four horses.

The brightest star in Auriga is Capella, one of the few bright stars that is yellow like our Sun. The similar color indicates that they have roughly the same surface temperature. The light from Capella actually comes from two separate stars. Both are yellow, and lie about 43 light-years from Earth. Each star emits dozens of times more light than the Sun. Its brightness and position in the night sky have made Capella an important star in many cultures. An example is the ancient Mexican city of Monte Alban, where a temple was dedicated to astronomical observations. Some of its structures were aligned with the point on the horizon where Capella made its first dawn appearance. That appearance happened on one of the two days of the year when the Sun passed directly overhead. So Capella might have acted like a warning flag, alerting the city's leaders that the time for the year's most important ceremonies was at hand.

Taurus

In December and January, the constellation Taurus the Bull will appear in the north-eastern sky around 6 pm, before dipping below the horizon in the north-west around 4 to 6 am. From February to March, Taurus will appear almost overhead around 7 pm before disappearing below the horizon between midnight and 2 am.

The constellation Taurus is associated with Greek mythology. As with many Greek myths it revolves around the amorous attentions of the King of Gods Zeus. This time the focus of his affection was on the beautiful Europa, daughter of King Agenor. In order to woo his victims, Zeus would often turn to disguise, and this story is no different. This time he would disguise himself as a beautiful bull and place himself amongst King Agenor’s herd. One day Europa spotted the bull and became mesmerized by its beauty. She approached it and climbed on its back. The bull headed towards the beach but then surprised Europa by leaping into the sea and taking her to the island of Crete. Once there, the bull revealed himself as Zeus and proclaimed that she would become his mistress. Europa would eventually have three sons by Zeus. He would later commemorate his conquest by placing the bull in the night sky.

Taurus the Bull is marked by a V-shaped pattern of stars, known as the Hyades, that outlines the bull's face. The Hyades, at a distance of about 130 light years, is the second-closest star cluster to Earth. Aldebaran, the "eye" of the bull, outshines all the other stars that outline the bull's face. But Aldebaran isn't a member of the Hyades cluster — it just lies in the same direction. It's about 70 light-years away, half as far as the stars of the Hyades. Aldebaran is a red-giant — an old, bloated star that's used up most of its nuclear fuel. It's much larger and much brighter than our own middle-aged Sun.

There are two other astronomical objects of interest in Taurus. Also known as M45 or Seven Sisters, the Pleiades is a star cluster that can be viewed with the naked eye. The cluster is made up of young and extremely bright stars that began forming around 100 million years ago. At a distance of around 400 light years away it is one of the closest star clusters to Earth, and contains hundreds of stars. The Crab Nebula, otherwise known as M1, is the result of a massive supernova explosion that was witnessed by far eastern astronomers in the 11th century. Nebulae which are born in this violent fashion are known as supernova remnants. The Crab Nebula is vast, perhaps around 10 light years across and lies around 6,000 light years from Earth.

Orion

Orion is one of the most beautiful of all constellations, and one of the easiest to find. It looks like a large rectangle high in winter's south-southeastern sky and contains many bright stars. From January to March the constellation Orion will first appear from the south east as night falls around 6 pm before setting around 2 am.

Orion is a character from Greek mythology, a giant hunter who was placed in the stars by Zeus upon his death. In the night sky Orion was perceived by ancient Greeks as defending himself against the nearby constellation of Taurus the bull. In one version of the myth Orion was the son of Poseidon, the Greek God of the sea, from whom he inherited an ability to walk on water. Orion walked across the sea to the island of Chios where he attacked the daughter of the island ruler in a drunken rage. Orion was blinded by the ruler in an act of retaliation but was later healed by Helios, the Greek personification of the sun. Orion later became arrogant with his great hunting abilities and vowed to kill every creature on the planet. The Goddess of the Earth, Gaia, responded by sending a giant scorpion (the constellation Scorpius) to destroy him. In the ensuing battle, Orion was killed and both he and Scorpius were placed amongst the stars.

Two of the brightest stars in the evening sky lie at opposite corners of Orion, bright orange-red Betelgeuse in the northeastern corner and even brighter Rigel in the southwest. Betelgeuse is is at least 300 times the Sun's diameter, and perhaps much more. It puts out about 100,000 times more energy than the Sun does, and when it dies, it will create a fireball that will briefly outshine billions of normal stars. We can’t be sure when that will happen to Betelgeuse, but it’s probably soon on the astronomical time scale: just about anytime in the next hundred thousand years. Rigel is a blue supergiant. Like Betelgeuse, it is much bigger and heavier than the Sun. It's surface is thousands of degrees hotter, however, so it shines blue-white. That high temperature means that Rigel also pumps out a lot of ultraviolet energy, which produces sunburn and other problems. When you add up the ultraviolet, visible light, and other wavelengths, Rigel shines tens of thousands of times brighter than the Sun. In fact, depending on Rigel's exact distance, it could be up to 100,000 times brighter than the Sun. In a few million years, Rigel, too, is likely to blast itself to bits as a supernova.

Near the center of Orion's prominent rectangle, look for a short diagonal line of three stars that forms Orion's Belt. Extending south from the belt, you'll see another, fainter line of stars that forms Orion's Sword. One of the objects in the sword isn't a star at all, but perhaps the most interesting object in Orion, known as M42, the great Orion Nebula. a vast star forming region some 1,500 light years from Earth. The Orion Nebula is easily visible with the naked eye apart from those living in an around the center of large cities. The visible nebula is a bubble of turbulent gas that is energized by the Trapezium, a cluster of hot, bright stars at its center that can be easily seen in a telescope. The process of star birth continues in the Orion Nebula today, with several hundred dense blobs of gas and dust collapsing to make new stars. In addition, planetary systems appear to be taking shape around many of the newborn stars. Not all of them will survive the birth process, though, because radiation from the cluster's hot young stars is eroding the planet-making materials around many of the stars.

Gemini

Gemini is easy to find as it glides high overhead in mid-winter, above and to the left of Orion. From January to March it will first appear from the east as night falls around 7 pm before setting around 4 am.

Many cultures have seen two humans in this star pattern, which consists of two roughly parallel lines of stars capped by two of the brightest stars in the night sky. But the legend that endures is that of Castor and Pollux. Gemini's two brightest stars bear the names of the twins. According to the most common version of their story, the queen of Sparta gave birth to two sets of twins, with one boy and one girl in each pair. One set was fathered by her husband, the other by Zeus, king of the gods. The four children were raised together, and the two boys -- one mortal, the other immortal -- were inseparable. They had many adventures, and joined Jason and the other Argonauts in the search for the golden fleece. During a fight with some landowners, the mortal Castor was killed. Pollux was inconsolable, and eventually begged Zeus to allow him to die so he could join Castor. Moved by Pollux's love for his brother, Zeus agreed to keep them together for eternity. They spend half of their time in the underworld, the other half in the heavens, where they are represented by the stars of Gemini.

Pollux is the brighter of the twins. The orange-giant star is about 35 light-years from Earth. At least one planet orbits the star. It is at least three times as massive as Jupiter, and it orbits Pollux once every 1.6 years. Castor consists of six stars. This crowded system lies about 50 light-years from Earth. All six stars in the system really are related, because they were born from a single giant cloud of gas and dust, probably around 200 million years ago.

Once of the most beautiful star clusters in the sky is located in Gemini. The star cluster M35 stands near the feet of the twins. It is about 2,800 light-years away, and it contains a couple of thousand stars. Astronomers estimate that the cluster is about 150 million years old. That's long enough for many of the cluster's original stars to have been pulled away by the gravity of the rest of the galaxy. But M35's remaining stars are bound together so strongly by their mutual gravitational pull that they're likely to stay together for a long time.

Gemini is also home to the Geminid meteor shower, which peaks in mid-December. This is one of, if not the most, enjoyable meteor showers to watch during any given year. One can expect to see between 80 and 120 meteors per hour during this meteor shower. Geminid meteors tend to be bold, white and quick. The curious rock comet called 3200 Phaethon is the parent body of this shower.

Canis Major & Canis Minor

Canis Major and Canis Minor loyally follows their mythical master, Orion, across the southern skies of winter. They are visible low in the south-east around 8pm in January and are visible all night. In February and March Canis Major and Minor are visible in the southern part of the sky around 8 - 9pm.

The brightest star in Canis Major also is the brightest in the entire night sky — brilliant Sirius, which is just 8.6 light-years away. That's only twice as far as our closest stellar neighbor. Because it is the brightest star of the Great Dog, Sirius is known as the Dog Star. Its first appearance in the dawn sky in August heralds the "dog days" of summer. Sirius is actually a double star. The star that we see as Sirius is about 20 times brighter than the Sun. It is also hotter and more massive than the Sun. Its companion is known as Sirius B, and is nicknamed The Pup. It is a white dwarf -- the hot, dense core of a star that was once like Sirius itself. At the end of its life, the star blew its outer layers into space, leaving only the core. Sirius B is as massive as the Sun but less than one percent as bright. It shines simply because it's still hot.

Procyon is a binary star system located at a distance of only 11.46 light years from Earth in the constellation Canis Minor. Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor and the 8th brightest star in the sky. Procyon, Sirius, Castor, Pollux, Capella, Aldebaran, and Rigel are the seven bright stars in the asterism known as the Winter Circle, although the asterism is more oval in shape.

Ursa Major

Ursa Major, the great bear, is always above the horizon in northern latitudes. Ursa Major is best known as the home of the asterism called the Big Dipper. From January to March the constellation will first appear in the north-eastern night sky at around 6 pm. Between midnight and 1 am it will be almost directly overhead before disappearing in a north-westerly direction as day breaks around 7 am.

Of all the star patterns in the sky, the Big Dipper is the most universally recognized. The dipper's seven bright stars form a portion of the great bear. It's hard to see the rest of the bear, especially from light-polluted cities. After you locate the dipper, look at the two stars that mark the outer edge of its bowl. Now connect these two stars, then extend the line above the dipper's bowl. Polaris, the north star, lies along this line, about five times the distance between the two pointers. No matter where the Big Dipper is in our sky, those two stars always point to Polaris.

The myth of Ursa Major involves the character Callisto from Greek mythology, a beautiful woman who was an attendant of Artemis, the Goddess of hunting and protector of girls. Callisto took a vow of chastity and became a favored hunting companion of Artemis. One day Zeus noticed the beautiful young Callisto and tricked her into breaking her vow of chastity. As a result she fell pregnant and was banished into the wild by Artemis. Eventually Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas. Hera, the wife of Zeus soon heard of her husband’s indiscretion and took vengeance on Callisto by turning her into a bear. One day, after many years of wandering the wilderness alone, Callisto accidentally encountered her long lost son. Not recognizing his mother, Arcas is about to kill Callisto when Zeus intervenes and sends her into the heavens as Ursa Major (Great Bear) and her son as Ursa Minor (Little Bear).

Many galaxies can be seen in Ursa Major using a telescope.

Leo

The zodiacal constellation Leo, the lion, is one of a handful of constellations that really does look like its namesake. It consists of two patterns of stars that the brain puts together to make a lion. A backward question mark represents the head and mane, and a triangle of stars to the lower left forms the lion's hindquarters and tail.

From February to April the constellation will appear in the eastern sky around 8 pm, gradually moving higher before dipping towards the western horizon before day breaks.

Like several constellations, Leo is based on the adventures of Hercules, a Greek mythological hero and son of Zeus. After being driven insane by his step mother, the divine hero killed his six sons in a blind rage. When he recovered from his temporary madness Hercules sought to atone for his actions by serving a penance for his crimes. Eventually Hercules ended up in the control of King Eurystheus who set him a series of labors. The first of these labors was to kill a lion that had been terrorizing the city of Nemea. Unknown to Hercules, the lion had a coat of golden fur which arrows and swords were unable to penetrate. On his first visit to the lion’s lair, Hercules discovered that his arrows simply bounced of the beast. On his second visit the hero blocked off one of the two entrances to the lair and entered armed with a large club. He beat the lion with his club before strangling it to death.

Leo's brightest star is blue-white Regulus, one of the brightest stars in the night sky. It is about 79 light-years away. Regulus rises almost due east, with the body of the lion following it into the sky over the next couple of hours. Once Regulus climbs into the sky, look to its left, toward the north, for the backwards question mark, known as the Sickle, that outlines his head and mane.

About two hours later, look low in the east for Leo's tail, a white star named Denebola, which comes from an Arabic name that, appropriately enough, means "tail of the lion." At a distance of just 36 light-years, Denebola is a fairly close neighbor. Even so, the fact that we can see it at all means that Denebola is quite bright -- more than 10 times brighter than the Sun. Denebola's brightness is a product of its mass. The star is about twice as heavy as the Sun, so it "fuses" the hydrogen in its core at a much faster rate. That makes the star's surface thousands of degrees hotter than the Sun's. The combination of high temperature and large size makes Denebola outshine the Sun and all but a few percent of all the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

As a final note, Leo also contains quite a few bright galaxies which are easily found in a telescope.

Cygnus

The brightest stars of Cygnus, the swan, form a cross, an asterism also known as the Northern Cross. Cygnus is one of the easiest constellations to find for this reason. In December and January, it will be visible high in the western sky from around 6 pm before disappearing below the horizon before 10 pm.

There are several different stories associated with the Cygnus constellation. One story involves the Greek mythological character of Leda, who was the Queen of Sparta. As with many ancient Greek myths, the amorous advances of the King of Gods Zeus plays a major part in the story. Zeus would often disguise himself as an animal in order to win favour or trick the objects of his affections, and this story is no different. This time his eye was drawn to Leda, and he took his chance when one day when she was attacked by an eagle. Zeus disguised himself as a swan and took the queen under his wings. Leda later produced two eggs, with a set of twins being born from each. From each egg one sibling was fathered by Zeus, the other by the King of Sparta. From one egg the brothers Castor and Pollux emerged, and from the other the twin sisters Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra were born. To celebrate the births Zeus placed the swan amongst the stars.

The constellation's brightest star is Deneb, an Arabic word that means "the tail." Deneb represents the tail of the swan but the top of the cross. The swan's outstretched wings form the horizontal bar of the cross, while the head of the swan, a beautiful double star called AlbireoLinks to an external site., is at the bottom of the cross.

Although it lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth, Deneb shines brightly in our night sky because it's a white supergiant, a star that's much larger, hotter, and brighter than the Sun. Deneb is the northeastern point of an asterism called the Summer Triangle. The other two stars in the Summer Triangle are Vega, in the constellation Lyra, and Altair, in the constellation Aquila.

Albireo is composed of a yellow star, which is in fact itself a close binary star, and a fainter blue companion star. The contrast between the stars makes Albireo a popular target among amateur astronomers. Use a telescope for the best view.