The sky has been relatively silent recently, with no particularly noteworthy celestial signs. Here we would like to introduce you to the starry sky at night. It has now entered the cold season of "Three Nines" and will soon enter the "Four Nines". Although the weather is cold, the night time is longer and sunny, which is the most suitable time for stargazing. However, outdoor stargazing must pay attention to cold protection and warmth. Let's turn our gaze to the starry sky on a winter night. The winter starry sky is very magnificent and is the season with the most stars of the year.
Lyra, Aquila, Cygnus
During this time, when it was just getting dark, the sky was particularly lively. We can see at least a dozen first-class stars in the sky, accounting for more than half of the twenty-one bright stars in the whole day. Although it has entered the depths of winter, the sky is not only the constellation of winter. In the low altitude of the west, you can also see the representative constellations of summer, Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus, and the summer triangle composed of the three bright stars of Vega, Niulang and Tianjin is about to fall on the horizon.
Schematic diagram of the relative positions of Lyra, Aquila and Cygnus in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Pegasus, Pisces
Aquarius, Southern Fish
The symbol of the autumn constellation, the Pegasus quadrilateral, has passed the top of the head and hangs high in the western sky. To the south of Pegasus are Pisces and Aquarius. To the south of Aquarius is the Constellation of Australis, which has the only 1st-magnitude bright star in the autumn starry sky, the Northern Gate. Bright Jupiter is located in the constellation of Aquarius, and soon after sunset, it will appear in the low southwest sky, with a brightness of -2, which is now the brightest star in the sky.
Schematic diagram of the relative positions of Pisces, Pegasus, Aquarius and Southern Fish in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Orion, Pleiades
Turning to the east, most of the representative constellations of winter have risen from the east, and this starry sky looks very lively, with 7 bright stars above the first class and more than a dozen second class stars. The most striking is, of course, the familiar constellation Orion. Around 7 p.m., Orion is lying low in the south-east, with two first-class bright stars in the constellation. The red orion α star Betelgeuse on the left, the blue-white β star Betelgeuse on the right, is particularly eye-catching, and the Orion belt between the two bright stars is also very conspicuous. Along the three stars of Orion, you can find the red Plurita, which is the α star in Taurus, and the gaze continues to extend upwards, and the "Pleiades" composed of 6 to 7 small stars can be seen.
Schematic diagram of the relative positions of orion, Taurus, and Pleiades in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Gemini
Gemini, adjacent to Orion, is also an important constellation in the winter night sky, and at this time on the left side of Orion, it is located in the sky due to the east. From Betelgeuse Seven oratory to Betelgeuse Four, two bright stars can be encountered, they are Gemini β star Norte River III and Gemini α Star North River II. The North River Three is significantly brighter than the North River Two, and it ranks 17th out of twenty-one bright stars throughout the day. Beihe II is not among the twenty-one bright stars.
Schematic diagram of the relative position of Gemini in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Winter Triangle
Extending down the Orion Samsung, you can find a very bright star on the horizon, which is the brightest star of the day: Sirius. Sirius is the α star in the constellation Canis Major, with a brightness of -1.47 and only 8.6 light-years from the Sun, making it one of the closest stars to Earth. In the lower left of Betelgeuse Orion, there is also a bright star, which is the α star in the constellation Canis, Chinese name is Nanhe III. It has a brightness of magnitude 0.4 and is the eighth brightest star of the day. Minamikawa III, Sirius and Betelgeuse form an equilateral triangle called the "Great Winter Triangle", which is the symbol of the winter starry sky, which has just risen above the eastern horizon and is far away from the summer triangle located on the western horizon.
Schematic diagram of the relative position of the "Winter Triangle" in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Gooza
Above Gemini, to the left of Taurus, is the constellation of Auriga. It consists of five bright stars forming a pentagonal shape, and the brightest α star in the constellation of Auriga Chinese is called Wuche-Er. It is the sixth brightest star of the day with a brightness of 0.08. It is comparable in brightness to Vega and the Star of Arcturus in the spring stars, and is one of the three bright stars of the Northern Sky and the northernmost first-class star of the whole day. The Milky Way is passing through the constellation Auriga, the opposite of the central direction of the Milky Way, Sagittarius, which is exactly the direction of the edge of the Milky Way. Therefore, this milky way looks relatively faint and sparse. The star at the southern apex of the Auriga pentagon is Chinese called "Five Cars and Five", but it does not belong to Auriga, but the second bright star in Taurus β star. In ancient China, the five bright stars that make up the Pentagon of Occidentalius were called "Five Cars", representing the carriages of the five Heavenly Kings and Emperors in charge of the East, West, South, North and Middle. There are many versions of ancient Greek mythology related to the constellation, and one of them also happens to be related to the car.
Schematic diagram of the relative position of the constellation of Auriga in the recent evening Source: Star Map Software
Ancient Greek mythology about the throne
In ancient Greek mythology, the sun god Apollo drove his golden sun car every day to inspect the sundays and bring light and warmth to the world. Apollo's youngest son, Faetong, in order to boast in front of his friends that he was the son of the sun god, begged his father to let him drive a golden car for one day. The sun nerves could not resist the soft and hard bubbles of Faetong, and finally handed the car to his son, and told him to be careful. Faretong triumphantly drove the golden car into the sky. Knowing that the four sacred horses pulling the cart were extremely fierce, Faretong was difficult to control, and the sun car quickly deviated from the normal track, rushing to the palace of the gods with rolling flames for a while, and then rushing to the ground for a while, and a large beautiful forest instantly turned into a Sahara Desert. In order to avoid a greater catastrophe, zeus used lightning to knock Faretong out of the golden car of the sun and fell into a large river and died. Afterwards, Zeus, remembering that Farr was young and ignorant, granted Apollo's request to ascend him to heaven and become the Throne of the Apostle. At the same time, the river that he fell into the water and died also rose to the sky, becoming the Bojiang Seat that snaked in the southern sky.
Poega is the constellation with the largest north-south span, starting near the southern end of Orion and meandering between ten constellations such as Taurus, Cetus, and Aquila. The vast majority of stars in the constellation are relatively dark, with only two bright stars at the beginning and one tail. In particular, at the southernmost point is a first-class bright star, Chinese name is called Water Commission One. Because of its location, it is only south of the Yangtze River basin where it is possible to see it near the southern horizon after dark.
The author is from the Beijing Planetarium
Source Beijing Planetarium WeChat public account | Written by Kou Wen
Editor: Wang Qiong
Process Editor Tai Shaofeng