Jupiter accompanying Winter Circle stars

Event Date: October 26th

Time: 7:00 AM

Brief

   The Winter Circle, of which we see most of the stars now rising in the mid-evening, has many of its stars get very high when they transit, and then taking 6-8 extra hours to set-- depending on which star we are talking about.  Sirius is the furthest south, with Rigel next.  Procyon and Betelgeuse are a little further north, being that of the celestial equator.  Capella, Castor and Pollux are far north of the equator, with the former nearly halfway between the equator and north celestial pole.  Here they are, setting and become less visible with the Sun rising shortly after.

click on image to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.

Detailed

   This circle (or "G"-shape) of stars takes up a huge chunk of sky as a "sortof-asterism".  What I mean by that, is that it is not categorized as one.  The shape that the stars make up is quite abstract, and taken from several constellations; that being, compared to most asterisms taken from one, two, or in the case of the Summer Triangle, three.  In this case, Orion, Auriga, Gemini, Taurus, Canis Major and Canis Minor are the five constellations featured for Betelgeuse/Rigel, Capella, Castor/Pollux, Betelgeuse, Sirius and Procyon respectively.  Whether you want to use Castor or Pollux alone or not, is fine; it is commonplace picking one, compared to using both.  Labeling both twins somewhat throws off the flow of the curves.  Either way, enjoy the triangle for what it is: rising one after another in the east. transiting high, and setting into the brightening Sun.

   Finally, remember that among the stars this year and next, is a much brighter one being Jupiter, at magnitude     -2.7.  As mentioned a few days ago, Jupiter moves back and forth in prograde and retrograde, with the latter movement when reaching oppositiion the Sun.