Winter Circle: high to view during evening

Event Date: December 26th

Time: 9:00 PM

Brief

   Christmas may now be behind this, yet the winter circle is at its best evening altitude over the next few weeks...hence, the seasonal name given to it.  Looking east, we can now see all the stars high enough above the horizon, with Sirius the last to rise in the east-southeast.  It is more south and east of most of the other stars, so from our hemisphere at mid-northern latitudes, this makes sense.  On the opposite side of the coordinate spectrum, regarding declination difference and west vs east in R.A., Capella is the most furthest north, and rises several hours earlier, during the afternoon hours.

   Taking a look below, we see the circle with the stars labeled, as I have shown before as a morning sight.  The view is directly southeast in azimuth.  The celestial grid and equator is displayed as a reminder for which stars are north and which are south.  The sky is stretched upward somewhat from a viewer's standpoint, to fit high Capella.

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

Detailed

As I have shown in the past, Orion's belt coincidentally(!) almost "divides" the sky, with its stars close to the celestial equator and almost running along with it.  Betelgeuse--a red supergiant--is north of the belt and equator, while very hot Rigel is south of it.  It is also because of this that viewers at about the same numbered latitudes south (between 35º-45º) see the Hunter's figure at about the same latitude at transit, yet "upside down".  For them, southern stars are seen higher than northern ones, so this makes sense.

As for the other stars, the Gemini twin-stars of Castor and Pollux are seen high for us later in the night, near zenith.  Procyon is closer to the equator yet still about 5º north.  Aldebaran, seen near retrograding Jupiter (labeled in bold), is about the same declination as the planet.  Also, Aldebaran turns the circle into more of a capital "G" shape.  Aforementioned Capella is about midway between the equator and north celestial pole.  Tomorrow, I will show the circle at an hour much later in the night, as the stars are descending to the horizon.  Until that time, if you are up late, enjoy many of them very high up, as seen from many northern latitudes.