RASC Hamilton

The Goat Star and Her Kids (all night)
2025-01-07 20:00 - 2025-01-08 05:00 (America/Toronto)
On early-January evenings, the constellation of Auriga, the Charioteer is positioned high in the eastern sky. The constellation is dominated by the very bright (magnitude 0.05), yellow, sun-like star Capella, nick-named the Goat Star. Look several finger widths to the right (or 4 degrees to the celestial south) of Capella for a narrow, sideways triangle of three fainter stars known as the Kids –Almaaz, and Hoedus I, and Hoedus II (or Epsilon, Zeta, and Eta Aurigae). The main stars of Auriga form an ellipse, although the medium-bright star Elnath at its right-hand (or southern) end is actually the northern horn-tip star of Taurus, the Bull.

The Stars of Orion’s Belt (evening)
2025-01-08 19:00 - 22:00
The three stars in Orion’s belt may look the same at a glance, but they are actually quite different under closer inspection. Magnitude 1.85 Alnitak (Zeta Orionis) on the left and magnitude 1.65 Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis) in the center shine at almost the same brightness, though Alnilam is almost twice as far away. The magnitude 2.4 star Mintaka (Delta Orionis) on Orion’s right hip is quite a bit fainter. Alnitak is blue, while the other two stars are whiter in color. In a telescope, Alnitak (Arabic for “the Girdle”) is revealed to be a very tightly-spaced double star, while Mintaka is a more widely spaced pair. Using binoculars (orange circle) look for a large, upright, S-shaped asterism of dim stars in the space between Alnilam and Mintaka. Sigma Orionis the medium-bright star shining less than a finger’s width to the lower right (or 0.8 degrees southwest of) Alnitak, is a beautiful little grouping of ten or more stars when viewed under magnification.
