Beyond Bones

    The Big Dipper is above the North Star, with its handle pointing up.  From that handle, you can ‘arc to Arcturus’ and then ‘speed on to Spica’; those stars are in the south at dusk.  Arcturus is the fourth brightest star in the night sky, but the brightest one we see from Houston […]

    April is the last month to see the full set of brilliant winter stars which now fill the western evening sky.  Dazzling Orion is in the southwest at dusk.  His three-starred belt is halfway between reddish Betelgeuse and bluish Rigel.  Orion’s belt points rightward to Aldebaran in Taurus the Bull.  To Orion’s upper […]

  The Summer Triangle now shifts towards the west as the Great Square of Pegasus appears higher, approaching the zenith.  As the autumn ‘intermission’ in between the bright stars of summer and winter continues, Houstonians with a clear southern horizon can try to find a star that few Americans get to see.  Due south and […]

    The Summer Triangle is high in the east.  This consists of the brightest stars in Cygnus, Lyra, and Aquila.  Scorpius, the Scorpion, is in the south, with the ‘teapot’ of Sagittarius to his left.  Leo, the Lion, sets in the west.  From the Big Dipper’s handle, ‘arc to Arcturus’ and ‘speed on to […]