Winter Circle seen east during evening

Event Date: December 1st

Time: 10:00 PM

Brief

   With the December solstice only about three weeks away, the namesake month begins with a "bang" each year, for mid-northern latitude viewers looking at rising constellations and bright stars in the east.  Why? 

During late-evening hours, the Winter Circle dominates this part of the sky, with the stars labeled below.  Some are brighter than magnitude +1, while others even close to or brighter than magnitude zero (i.e. Capella and Sirius).  Seen here, are the stars forming the circle, along with Jupiter, nearly at opposition, rising shortly before Aldebaran, plus stars in the Hyades cluster.  The Moon as a big waning gibbous, is seen rising also  in southeastern Gemini.

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

Detailed

   Although we currently have to wait until about the time above to see Sirius get high enough to easily see, most of the other stars can be seen above the horizon an hour earlier-- save Procyon, which is about as far east as Sirius yet requires a shorter wait.  Capella, which is the most northern of the stars, rises about two hours before it gets dark enough to see, allowing us to have a few last days to see its light refract through our atmosphere and give a "Christmasy" red-green, rapid-twinkle appearance.  Besides that, Betelgeuse and Aldrebaran are both cool, orange-red giants many times larger than the Sun, and Rigel is super-hot.  The latter is predicted to appear as bright as a full Moon, if not somewhat moreso, if it goes supernova; a true explosion, for such a hot star that is already 51,200 times more luminous that the Sun.  Fortunately for us, it is estimated to have a distance of 777 light years; such a large number will (hopefully!) keep us safe from any life-threatening radiation, or worse(?).

   Enjoy the view of the huge star pattern, and keep an eye on Jupiter all evening long; it will still be above the horizon tomorrow morning at Sunset as well!  I will show about that tomorrow.