Orion over my roof

A few nights ago I went onto the balcony to have a look at the loverrrly sky to the east:


Then I looked behind me, over the roof, to the west. And there was my favourite constellation, Orion. His belt is made of the three stars in an almost horizontal line you can see in the center of the photo:



It is not a great photo, but you can see the real thing these days if you live in the northern hemisphere and look east. And the real thing is a real wonder. In the photo Rigel is the star, below the belt, which is almost touching the roof. And Betelgeuse is the one above the belt and in line with Rigel. When you look at the constellation for real you'll be amazed at how these two stars have definite colours, Rigel is blue and Betelgeuse is orange. 

Follow the line of the belt leftwards and you'll find Sirius, the Dog star, the brightest star in the sky. In the photo is is near the end of an antenna.

Go back to the belt and extrapolate along it to the right, you'll find another bright star, this time called Alderbaran.

If it is night-time, and you're in the northern hemisphere, and there is a clear sky, and you're just browsing the web on the sofa (with the TV on in the background) it is really really worth getting up, going outside and having a look for Orion, Sirius and Aldebaran. Use your own real naked eyes, they be receiving light direct from the stars and not from a pixel on a screen...



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

3D printers – about time I got one eh?

How I don't learn from experience