Astronomy - Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
2017 January 23
Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir
Image Credit & Copyright: Jeff Dai(TWAN)
Explanation: If you can find Orion, you might be able to find the Winter Hexagon. The Winter Hexagon involves some of the
brightest starsvisible, together forming a large and easily found
pattern in the
winter skyof
Earth's
northern hemisphere. The
stars involved can usually be identified even in the
bright night skies of a
big city, although here they appeared recently in dark skies above the
Manla Reservoir in
Tibet,
China. The six stars that compose the
Winter Hexagon are
Aldebaran,
Capella,
Castor (and
Pollux),
Procyon,
Rigel, and
Sirius. Here, the
band of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through the center of the
Winter Hexagon, while the
Pleiades open
star cluster is visible just above. The
Winter Hexagon asterism engulfs several
constellations including much of the
iconic steppingstone
Orion.
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