Winter Sky

by Gerald Rezes

Winter arrives at 12:50 PM (PST) on December 21, 2026 – the longest night of the year. Winter is a great time for stargazing as long as the weather holds out and in Southern California, this is usually the case.

There are too many stars, constellations, and astronomical objects in the winter sky to detail here. But the winter’s featured constellation has to be Orion. The stars that makeup Orion’s figure are identified in many cultures as a hunter. Astronomically speaking, Orion looks like a large hourglass pattern with three stars making up his waistline belt. Betelgeuse, a large red giant star, marks his right shoulder. In the opposite corner, Orion’s left knee shines Rigel a hot blue supergiant. There are three stars that make Orion’s sword but actually, the middle “star” is the Great Orion Nebula (M42). This brilliant nebula is a hotbed of new star creation and is one of the easiest objects for an amateur astronomer to find and view with any telescope or binoculars.

Moon Phases

Dec. 23 – Full Moon
Dec. 30 – Last Quarter
Jan. 7 – New Moon
Jan. 15 – First Quarter
Jan. 22 – Full Moon
Jan. 29 – Last Quarter
Feb. 6 – New Moon
Feb. 13 – First Quarter
Feb. 20 – Full Moon
Feb. 27- Last Quarter
Mar. 8 – New Moon
Mar. 15 – First Quarter

All Pacific Time
(Source: Calendar-12.com)

The before-mentioned Betelgeuse along with Sirius and Procyon make up the asterism called the Winter Triangle. Sirius, the Dog Star, is the brightest star in the night sky; Procyon is a binary system with a white dwarf star. Rounding out the notable stars in the winter sky are Aldebaran, Capella, Castor, and Pollux.

Opposite the galactic center, the winter presents the Milky Way’s outer arm spanning across the sky. With this river of stars, there are many Messier objects. The before-mentioned Orion Nebula, M42, is probably the most famous winter object.

Next perhaps is M1, The Crab Nebula, which is a circular supernova remnant from an explosion in 1054 AD. M45, The Pleiades, is sometimes mistaken for the Little Dipper but this open cluster of new stars is nowhere near the northern pole. There are several additional open clusters in the winter sky including M41, M35, M36, M37, M38, and M67. Last, there are the Hyades, the nearest open cluster which makes up the “V” in Taurus.

Planets:

Mercury after January 1 superior conjunction, becomes an evening planet until mid-February then goes back to the morning. Mercury is at perihelion on February 5.
Venus is at greatest western elongation on January 3 in the morning sky.
Mars transitions from morning planet to evening with opposition on February 9. Mars is at aphelion on March 4.
Jupiter is well placed for evening viewing with opposition on February 10.
Saturn is in the evening sky fast approaching sunset.
Uranus (Taurus) is a well-positioned evening planet.
Neptune is in Pisces below the circlet. By February, it will be positioned low in the western sky making it difficult to observe.
Pluto is too close to the sun to observe while in Capricornus.
Ref: In-The-Sky.org & The Sky Live