Week of December 18-24, 2011: The Winter Hexagon by Dennis Mammana on Creators.com

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Week of December 18-24, 2011: The Winter Hexagon

Perhaps the most frustrating part of stargazing is trying to find the celestial figures described by the ancients: Taurus, the bull; Cassiopeia, the queen; Auriga, the charioteer.

The reason we have such trouble is because there's a secret that every astronomer knows but rarely reveals: There are no images in the sky.

Shocking, but true.

In fact, the constellations look no more like their namesakes than the George Washington Bridge looks like the father of our country. The ancients most likely used regions of the sky not to resemble important objects, animals and people, but rather just to represent them in their stories.

So how, then, can we ever hope to find our way around this confusing maze of stars? Simply connect them with imaginary lines and make up your own outlines called asterisms.

Some of the easiest asterisms to create are geometrical figures: triangles, arcs, squares and more. And there's no reason to limit ourselves to connecting stars within individual constellations either; in fact, we can form one of the largest asterisms in all of the heavens by using bright stars from no less than six constellations. This is in the sky right now and is called Winter Oval or Winter Hexagon.

To find it, head outdoors during the early evening hours this week and look toward the southeastern sky. There you should have no difficulty finding the brilliant bluish-white star Sirius, which will form the starting point for the hexagon.

From Sirius, follow a line to the left until you encounter another fairly bright star: Procyon, part of Canis Minor, the little dog.

Then continue left, but begin heading upward; next you'll find two nearly equally bright stars, Pollux and Castor, the main stars in Gemini — the twins. Above these two lies another bright one: Capella in Auriga, the charioteer.

From Capella, slide downward and to the right, until you encounter the reddish star Aldebaran in Taurus. Dropping down even farther, you'll find Rigel in Orion. And finally you'll return to Sirius, where your journey began.

Inside the hexagon — not all that far from its center — we find another bright star that marks the right shoulder of Orion, the hunter. This is the red super-giant star known as Betelgeuse. There's no connection to Michael Keaton's zany movie character, however; its name originates from the Arabic language and means "armpit of the giant."

All totaled, this easy asterism encompasses eight of the 18 brightest stars visible to stargazers in the Earth's Northern Hemisphere, and is one truly great Winter Hexagon!

Once you've found this asterism, perhaps you can begin searching the sky for other shapes: geometrical figures, letters of the alphabet, punctuation marks (periods don't count!) and more. By creating your own asterisms among the stars, you'll learn the sky more quickly than if you depend on ancient figures that don't even exist.

As our tiny blue world completes yet another journey around its life-giving star, I'd like to wish each of my readers, fans and friends a very happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Festivus or whatever gives you joy in this season. I sincerely hope that your stars shine ever more brightly in 2012!

Visit Dennis Mammana at www.dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.