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Rare Venus Transit Across the Sun
Early evening sky watchers may have noticed that the brilliant planet Venus is now appearing lower in the dusk sky each evening; this is nothing to be concerned about. It happens because Venus is orbiting the sun and, within only a week or so, it …Read more.
Antares After Dark
"If you've seen one star, you've seen 'em all." How many times have I heard that phrase over my long stargazing career!
I suppose it's true to one who seldom peers at the nighttime sky. It's really too bad, though, because those of us who …Read more.
Solar Eclipse!
It's been quite a while since we in the United States have enjoyed an eclipse of the sun — about seven years, to be exact. But one is about to occur next Sunday, and you'll definitely not want to miss it.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon …Read more.
The Celestial Water Snake
Here's a trivia question for you. Which is the largest of all constellations? If you answered "Hydra", you know more about the night sky than you admit.
At this time of year, we can find Hydra, the water snake, low in the southern sky …Read more.
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Week of January 29-February 4, 2012: The Great Celestial HunterOne of my favorite constellations in all the heavens has made its grand return to our evening sky, much as Robert Frost described in the opening lines of his famous poem "Star-Splitter": You know Orion always comes up sideways. I remember, as a young child, standing in the snow and gazing into the frosty night sky over Easton, Pa., and marveling at the glistening stars of Orion. At the time, I had no idea what I was seeing, but I found its hourglass shape to be unmistakable and was completely enthralled by its three equally bright central stars, which seemed to form a perfectly straight line. How unusual, I thought. Could it be that I had actually discovered this amazing stellar configuration? It wasn't until many years later that I learned that ancient sky watchers had me beat by a few millennia. This ancient star grouping we call Orion was known to the Sumerians of Mesopotamia; the Egyptians saw him as the god Osiris, and the ancient Greeks knew him as the son of the sea god Poseidon and a great and strong hunter. They had imagined among his stars the figure of a mighty hunter. And why not? Orion is one of the few constellations that, with a little imagination, can actually be traced to resemble its namesake. Two stars — Betelgeuse and Bellatrix — mark the shoulders of the celestial giant. Saiph and Rigel form his knees. And in his mid-section lay three stars — Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka — that trace his belt. But if you think that's all there is to Orion, think again.
Orion is one of those star groupings that happens to sit directly over the Earth's equator; actually, it's the westernmost star of the belt (Mintaka) that owns this distinction. This means, of course, that the top half of the constellation is part of the Northern Hemisphere sky, while the lower half is claimed by Southern Hemisphere stargazers. If you happen to live within the Arctic Circle, you'd see only the Orion's upper body; the converse, of course, would be true if you lived in Antarctica. In other words, no matter where in the world you live or travel at this time of year, Orion will always be a welcome and familiar companion in your sky. But it might not always look the same; if you've ever spotted Orion from the Southern Hemisphere, you might have been perplexed because he seems to be standing on his head — not surprisingly, since stargazers south of the equator are inverted from those of us up north. Yes, Orion represents quite an amazing chunk of celestial real estate, with or without a telescope. I guess that's why it's one of my favorites of all! 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. COPYRIGHT 2012 CREATORS.COM 
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