Facing South, you shouild see a bright star to your left-that’s Sirius.

Above and to the right of Sirius, you should be able to make out the familiar form of the constellation Orion by looking for the three belt stars. To the above right of Orion, look for a V-shaped cluster-it’s called the Hyades. The bright red star in the Hyades is called Aldebaran.

To the left and above Orion, you should see an even brighter object than Sirius-that’s Jupiter. And low in the sky to the far right you might see Saturn.

Here is a list of things you should be able to see in Winter with just ordinary binoculars (7 x 35).

1.  Sirius
2.  Winter Circle – Connect these stars: Sirius, Procyon, Pollux, Capella, Aldebran, Rigel
3.  Orion’s Belt
4.  Orion Nebula
5.  Meissa – Central star of open cluster in Orion
6.  Hyades – Open cluster in Taurus
7.  Delta Tauri – Double star in Taurus
8.  Kappa Tauri – Double star in Taurus

You can use this diagram as a guide. It can be downloaded at skymaps.com. The orientation for the map is set for South, with the middle of the circle representing straight overhead. Turn the map upside down when looking North.

The larger the blob on the map, the brighter the object will appear in the sky–note the magnitude legend at the bottom right of the map. Contrary to intuition, the higher the magnitude number, the dimmer the object appears.

ISS (International Space Station passes)

Will the ISS make a pass over Richmond tonight?