Watch the moon cross the winter hexagon this week

For the next few nights, you can catch up the moon Crossing a hexagonal formation of stars high in the winter sky.

Six bright, easily identifiable stars in the winter sky form a beautiful hexagon. For five nights, the moon will cross the center of the winter hexagon or the winter circle. The six stars that make up its pillars are part of the constellations Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major, and Canis Minor. From January 23 to January, you’ll be able to see the moon „intersects“ with the shape, and the moon sits inside the hexagon in the middle of the three nights.

The top six stars by size include the distinctive blue of Sirius, located at the bottom of the formation; Rigel, at the foot of the mighty; Bright Aldebaran. Capella, high in the sky. Pollux, one of the heads of Gemini; The Procyon in Canis Minor, per Sky and Telescope. This group is sometimes mentioned with the star Castor, the other head within the constellation Gemini. Castor isn’t a top-tier superstar but he’s still quite shining. You can also spot the bright red star Betelgeuse in the center of the hexagon, at the shoulder of Orion.

You’ll find the group relatively early in the evening, around 9:30 PM local time, according to Joe Rao at Space.comIf you look south. They will be awake for a long time. However, this is not a narrow group, so it is spread across the sky. EarthSky He has a nice drawing of where the moon will appear in relation to these six stars every night from January 23-27. You can also use an app like Sky view To track down the stars if you are not sure where they are.

Part of the joy of watching is seeing the movement of the celestial bodies against each other as the moon turns its way through the large hexagon night after night, moving toward the full moon on January 27th.

This movement has happened three times this winter already, and each Sky and telescopeIt’ll happen three more times after this week’s dance. You will be able to see the moon crossing the winter hex again on February 19-24, March 19-23, and April 15-19. However, that doesn’t mean it will look the same every month. Plus, watching the moon move through the sky this week is a great way to get a good idea of ​​the bright winter stars if you aren’t already used to them.