Moon between Procyon and Gemini

Moon between Procyon And Gemini

Hey, Do you see the moon tonite. Isn’t it beautiful?  So what are these stars nearby? Or are they planets? The whole week it had been  raining. But now, though the sporadic showers we can have  a beautiful sky tonight.

Tonight at 11:00 p.m ( local Mauritian Time), in our sky the moon which is in its waxing gibbous phase, is between three stars. The star above the moon is Procyon. Procyon is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Minor (the small Dog). And below the moon we have two stars Castor and Pollux. These two stars are in the constellation Gemini (the Twins).

Towards the West, you can have a look at Sirius, the brightest star in our skies. Sirius is in the constellation Canis Major (the Big Dog). And towards North West you would have to raise your head to see Mars , a bright looking yellow star in the constellation Leo. Though as I said Mars looks like a star but is not. It’s a planet. So have a look before it starts raining cats and dogs again.

Did you know that in the Southern Hemisphere, the moon passes between the Gemini stars and Procyon once a month? And people living in the Northern Hemisphere will see the moon, Gemini stars, and Procyon in their southern evening sky. They’ll see the scene “upside down,” with Procyon shining below the moon, and Castor and Pollux above the moon?

Night sky scene in the northern hemisphere

You still don’t understand? Ok, just do the up-stand position in front of the night sky, you would get the “upside down” scene.

Asterisms : What? and List

Looking up and finding patterns in the stars is a pastime that’s as old as humanity. The constellations are rich with mythology that has been passed on for millennia.

The name for these unofficial constellations is “asterism.” Like constellations, asterisms have a long history. Some are regional, (this particular asterism list  is from Germany) while others are universally recognized. Some are ancient, while others are more modern. If you enjoy stargazing, you may even have a few of your own personal asterisms. So go and be creative in the night sky and have fun.

If you are willing to find these asterisms, my advice would be to use Stellarium, if you still haven’t downloaded it, go grab it for free. you just have to type in the stars names in the Search field, for example: “delta Ori”,”epsilon Ori” and “zeta Ori”. And then you could be able to identify the asterism”the belt of Orion”. Pretty easy, huh!

Table of Asterisms:

Beehive	Located in the constellation Cancer. It is an open star cluster, which is also called Praesepe or M44 and faintly visible to the naked eye. With the stars gamma Can and delta Can it forms another asterisms called the Asses and the Manger.
Belt of Orion	is being formed by the stars delta Ori, epsilon Ori and zeta Ori; in Latin Amerika it is called the “Three Marys”.
Bier	is being built by the four stars alpha UMa, beta UMa, gamma UMa and delta UMa.
Big Dipper	most famous asterism. Formed by the following Stars of the Great Bear alpha UMa, beta UMa, gamma UMa, delta UMa, epsilon UMa, zeta UMa and eta UMa, it is often called “Wain” (Wagon) or “Charles’s Wain” because of its resemblance with it when the Dipper handle is thought to be the wagon tongue.
Bull of Poniatowski	A T-shaped asterism just east of gamma Oph; it is formed by the stars 66 Oph, 67 Oph, 68 Oph and 70 Oph
Circlet	the western fish; the circlet is formed by gamma Psc, b Psc, theta Psc, iota Psc, 19 Psc, lambda Psc and kappa Psc.
Coalsack	Actually this is not a true asterism, but a dark patch on the Milky Way, in the constellation Crux. By the African Bushmen it was called “Old Bag”.
Frederick’s Glory	is formed by iota And, kappa And, lambda And and psi And
Guardians of the Pole	just beta UMi and gamma UMi
Head of Cetus	presented by alpha Cet, gamma Cet, xi_2 Cet, mu Cet and lambda Cet
Heavenly G	nine bright stars forming a G-shaped group. Seven of these stars are of 1st magnitude. In order they are: Aldebaran (alpha Tau), Capella (alpha Aur), Castor (alpha Gem), Pollux (beta Gem), Procyon (alpha CMi), Sirius (alpha CMa), Rigel (beta Ori), Bellatrix (gamma Ori) and Betelgeuse (alpha Ori)
Hyades	open cluster; V-shaped group superposed on alpha Tau, gamma Tau, delta Tau and epsilon Tau
Hydra Head	build by delta Hya, epsilon Hya, zeta Hya, eta Hya, rho Hya and sigma Hya
Job’s Coffin	formed by the four stars alpha Del, beta Del, gamma Del and delta Del
Keystone	is formed by the epsilon Her, zeta Her, eta Her and pi Her
Kids	are called epsilon Aur, zeta Aur and eta Aur
Lozenge	build by the four stars beta Dra, gamma Dra, xi Dra and nu Dra
Milk Dipper	The following five members of the constallation Sagittarius can be interpreted as an inverted dipper in the Milky Way: zeta Sgr, tau Sgr, sigma Sgr, phi Sgr and lambda Sgr. This asterism is also known as The Teapot.
Northern Cross	is formed by the leading stars of the constellation Cygnus: alpha Cyg, beta Cyg, gamma Cyg, delta Cyg and epsilon Cyg
Northern Fly	This is a small triangle over the rear of Aries
Pleiades	Located in the constellation Taurus. This open star cluster is one of the Messier objects, M45. It also known as Seven Sisters or, in Latin America the Seven Little Goats
Segment of Perseus	the stars eta Per, gamma Per, alpha Per, delta Per, epsilon Per and zeta Per forming an arc.
Sickle	formed by alpha Leo, eta Leo, gamma Leo, zeta Leo, mu Leo and epsilon Leo
Square of Pegasus	At the edges of that square you find alpa Peg, beta Peg, gamma Peg and alpha And
Sword of Orion	theta Ori and iota Ori; between them the famous Orion Nebula (M42) is located.
Venus Mirror	also on Orion; the belt stars (delta Ori, epsilon Ori and zeta Ori), the sword and eta Ori build up this asterism. The sword forms the handle of the diamond-shaped mirror.
Y of Aquarius	also called Water Jar; the Y is build by gamma Aqr, eta Aqr, pi Aqr and zeta Aqr

Credits:

• http://maps.seds.org/Const/asterism.html

Related articles

• Constellations: Origins and Now (heavenswithlamps.wordpress.com)