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Monthly Constellation Picks
In this section of the site, I show you how to identify one or two
constellations for each month of the year. I've put the table right below here
so you can quickly access it - but please read all the stuff
below the table before you start.
* - Constellation is in the Zodiac; planet(s) may be present.
Note 1 - July 15 may be better. The constellation will be in its shown place, an
hour later, but the sky will be darker.
There are a few things common to all monthly
selections that you need to know:
 | I don't need a "year" for these things, since the stars on (e.g.) Aug 1 of
this year are the same as they were on Aug 1 fifty years ago, and the same as
they will be on Aug 1, fifty years from now. Well, nearly. |
| Except for a couple, all months are for a direction of NE to SE, around
dark following sunset ("astronomical twilight"), on the first of that month. In some cases, I've had to go past
that
so that the entire constellation is visible. |
| Each night, stars rise earlier - four minutes per day, 28 minutes per
week, two hours per (30-day) month. So, if it's September 1, and you want to
move ahead to October's picks, you first note that the October skyshot is for
6:30pm on Oct 1. So, you can see the same stars on Sep 1, at 6:30 + 2:00 =
8:30pm. |
| I happen to be in the Mountain time zone, but you don't care. The times
are not zone-dependent. They are, however, set for Standard
time. If you are on Daylight Savings time, subtract an hour from your watch to
align with the times shown here. |
| The constellations shown in the picks are near the east horizon, which is not the best time to try to view them. It's best if you
start at the shown time, recognize what you can, then go back out 1/2hr later. Then
find what you found before, plus other stuff now that the constellation is
higher and its stars brighter. Remember you don't have to get the whole thing
in one night. You've got the entire month, with the stars being higher each
subsequent day at any given time. |
| Given the above, why do I pick times when the constellation is so low?
Well, one step in identifying constellations is to "fence" the area. The
horizon is a hard-stop in this process. As we go, I try to provide the left,
right, and top boundaries, but I always often do this, and never can I provide
all three. |
| The reason for the above is, the higher a star is above the horizon, the
less atmosphere its light has to pass through to get from it to you. Thus, the
star appears brighter. |
| While you're waiting for this month's constellation to get higher and
brighter, you can spend your time on previous months' picks you've already
identified. To be a 'pro', you need to be able to identify the constellation
no matter where it is in the sky. And constellations that are setting don't look
the same as when they're rising - specifically, they're upside-down. |
| If there is a lot of ambient light where you live, you may not be able to
see all of the stars in the constellation, no matter how high it is. Oh, well.
Try for the brighter (named) stars, anyway. There's some gratification is this
alone. |
| If you live in a real dark place, you may have the opposite problem - too
many stars. Since the sky-shots start with the constellations near the
horizon, the dimmer stars will be filtered out. But it's important to keep
re-acquiring the constellation as it progresses through the sky, because all
of these "background" stars will appear, and it'll be less easy to trace the
constellation. |
| Some constellations are in the Zodiac (I've identified these with an
asterisk in the above table), which means there may be a planet in there. Five
planets are visible without a telescope - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn. Mercury and Venus are closer to sun than Earth, so they can never be in
the east at sunset (they never wander far from the Sun). Mars, Jupiter and
Saturn are always somewhere in the Zodiac, and they are (typically) the
brightest thing in the constellation when they're there. |
| Stars twinkle, planets do not. (Why? Stars are their own light-source.
Planets are reflected light.) Stars that flash on and off are probably
airplanes. Things that move and don't twinkle are man-made satellites. There
are LOTS of these, and after sunset and before sunrise you'll be able to see
them on the sun-side of the sky. |
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