The familiar winter constellation Orion—the Hunter—can be seen rising in the evening sky this time of year, marking the approach of Winter to the Northern Hemisphere.
(Shown mid-December at 8:00pm for mid-Northern latitudes.)
Scheduled air date: 2000 Nov 27-Dec 03
The familiar winter constellation Orion—the Hunter—can be seen rising in the
evening sky this time of year, marking the approach of Winter to the Northern
Hemisphere.
(Shown mid-December at 8:00pm for mid-Northern latitudes.)
Winter Solstice—the beginning of Winter—occurs in about three weeks
(December 21st) for the Northern Hemisphere.
At this time, the Sun's path across the sky is at its lowest, or closest to the
southern horizon, while the Moon's path is at its highest.
(Positions shown at one hour intervals for mid-Northern latitudes.)
For comparison, the above shows the paths of the Sun and Moon across the sky at Summer
Solstice—the beginning of Summer (June 21st). Note that, relative to
Winter Solstice, the Sun and Moon appear to have switched places.
If you wish to view illustrations for other episodes, please see our Star Gazer Illustrated directory.
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Illustrations on this page were created using
TheSky Astronomy
Software, an advanced desktop planetarium program designed for Windows. Copyright © 1999-2006 by Software Bisque, Inc. |