Starship Asterisk*

[float=left][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM1f0RKQtmc[/youtube][/float][quote="MarkBour"][quote="neufer"]

[c][i][color=#0000FF]Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.[/color][/i]

- Clive Staples Lewis[/c][/quote]
Okay, Clive, but in that case "unanswerable"
is made unsatisfyingly fuzzy.[/quote]

[quote="neufer"][quote="bystander"]

Castor should not be included in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Hexagon]Winter Hexagon[/url]. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.[/quote]
[c]Mortals get no respect.

[i][color=#0000FF]Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.[/color][/i] - C. S. Lewis[/c][/quote]
Okay, Clive, but in that case "unanswerable" is made unsatisfyingly fuzzy.

Beautiful Image

mere mortals even less, and I am being Sirius here

[quote="bystander"]

Castor should not be included in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Hexagon]Winter Hexagon[/url]. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.[/quote]
[c]Mortals get no respect.

[i][color=#0000FF]Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable?
Quite easily, I should think.
All nonsense questions are unanswerable.[/color][/i] - C. S. Lewis[/c]

[quote="Boomer12k"]I see 7 sides, and angles, though the one is very short... a heptagon... a 7 sided Polygon...

Or is it just me and the short piece, lower left, is not counted? [/quote]
Castor should not be included in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Hexagon]Winter Hexagon[/url]. The segment should go directly from Capella to Pollux.

Thanks, Chris!

And welcome, Holger! (Well, it's your second post, not your first, but still...)

You're a Dane, like Chris, aren't you?

Ann

[quote="Ann"]Tsukalos, I tried to spot [url=http://tinyurl.com/h7g42pg]Gandalf[/url], but I think I failed![/quote]

[attachment=0]gandalf.jpg[/attachment]

[quote="Ann"]Tsukalos, I tried to spot [url=http://tinyurl.com/h7g42pg]Gandalf[/url], but I think I failed!

And Michel Favret, I like your G, but I'm sorry to see you missed [url=http://tinyurl.com/hkl8znc]the Pleiades[/url]!

Ann[/quote]

I don't see Gandalf as well; either not enough imagination or not enough beer. But I do see what looks like a 'red' emission nebula just to the right of center that looks like a giant tadpole in space. Maybe multiples that kind of line up just right?

Ah, how I remember back when, long ago, as a young boy, I looked out of my window: and suddenly realized that I was actually SEEING what was in my book: I pronounced it "Ory - On!"

I like this. Some Sirius imaging

"Gandalf" is standing at the bottom centre of the picture with his back to the viewer...

Tsukalos, I tried to spot [url=http://tinyurl.com/h7g42pg]Gandalf[/url], but I think I failed!

And Michel Favret, I like your G, but I'm sorry to see you missed [url=http://tinyurl.com/hkl8znc]the Pleiades[/url]!

Ann

I see 7 sides, and angles, though the one is very short... a heptagon... a 7 sided Polygon...

Or is it just me and the short piece, lower left, is not counted?

Hope to have some clear but cold weather...
:---[===] *

I'm french and I hope that you will excuse my poor English.

When I learned the winter sky, many years ago, my astronomers friends teached me another asterism including ALL the brightest stars of this part of the sky, including the Orion's "shoulders" Bellatrix and Betelgeuse.

This is the "big G" of winter : starting with Aldebaran, then Capella and it's neighbour Menkalinan (Bet Aur, that's produce a more "round" shape), Castor and Pollux, Procyon and Sirius, Rigel, and last the right line of the "G" formed with Bellatrix and Betelgeuse.

You can see it on the simple sky map included my "the monthly sky" (Le ciel du mois), the most visited page of my professionnal web site (I teach the sky in schools with an inflatable planetarium as you can read in the others pages -in French, sorry-) :

[url]http://www.constellationsetgalaxies.org/cielmois.html[/url]

I don't know if it's a specific way to draw the winter sky in France or Europe ?!?

Michel FAVRET

Contrived asterism is contrived.

But it is it a pretty picture with a small Gandalf in front conjuring some cheap tricks over the water. :lol2:

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170123.html][img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_170123.jpg[/img] [size=150]Winter Hexagon over Manla Reservoir[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] If you can find Orion, you might be able to find the Winter Hexagon. The Winter Hexagon involves some of the [url=http://maps.seds.org/Stars_en/]brightest stars[/url] visible, together forming a large and easily found [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexagon]pattern[/url] in the [url=http://www.eyesonthesky.com/StarCharts/WinterConstellations.aspx]winter sky[/url] of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap100713.html]Earth[/url]'s [url=https://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nh_snowcover/]northern hemisphere[/url]. The [url=https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/how-do-stars-form-and-evolve]stars[/url] involved can usually be identified even in the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap010827.html]bright night skies[/url] of a [url=http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0208/earthlights02_dmsp_big.jpg]big city[/url], although here they appeared recently in dark skies above the [url=https://www.tripadvisor.be/Attraction_Review-g303775-d1859392-Reviews-Manla_Reservoir-Gyangze_County_Tibet.html]Manla Reservoir[/url] in [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibet_Autonomous_Region]Tibet[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China]China[/url]. The six stars that compose the [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z_gfbQ9bOY]Winter Hexagon[/url] are [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/aldebaran.html]Aldebaran[/url], [url=http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~dolan/constellations/hr/1708.html]Capella[/url], [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_(star)]Castor[/url] (and [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollux_(star)]Pollux[/url]), [url=http://www.solstation.com/stars/procyon2.htm]Procyon[/url], [url=http://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/blue-white-rigel-is-orions-brightest-star]Rigel[/url], and [url=http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/sirius.html]Sirius[/url]. Here, the [url=http://sanitaryum.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/cat_band.jpg]band[/url] of our Milky Way Galaxy runs through the center of the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Hexagon]Winter Hexagon[/url], while the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap091014.html]Pleiades[/url] open [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/open_clusters.html]star cluster[/url] is visible just above. The [url=http://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/winter-circle-highlights-brightest-winter-stars]Winter Hexagon[/url] [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterism_(astronomy)]asterism[/url] engulfs several [url=http://nasa.tumblr.com/post/150688852794/zodiac]constellations[/url] including much of the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap101117.html]iconic[/url] steppingstone [url=http://maps.seds.org/Stars_en/Fig/orion.html]Orion[/url].

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