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Over the next few nights you may catch the moon passing through a hexagonal formation of stars high in the winter sky.
Six bright and easily identifiable stars in the winter sky form a beautifully shaped hexagon. Over the course of five nights, the moon will cross the center of the winter hexagon or the winter circle. The six stars that form its corners are part of the constellations Orion, Taurus, Auriga, Gemini, Canis Major and Canis Minor. You will be able to see the moon “crossing” the shape from January 23 through January, with the moon sitting inside the hexagon on the middle three nights.
The six first magnitude stars include the recognizable blue of Sirius, sitting at the bottom of the formation; Rigel, at the foot of Orion; bright Aldebaran; Capella, high in the sky; Pollux, one of the heads of Gemini; and Procyon in Canis Minor, by Sky and telescope. This group is sometimes mentioned with the star Castor, the other head inside the constellation Gemini. Castor is not a first magnitude star but is still quite bright. You can also see the bright red star Betelgeuse in the middle of the hexagon, at Orion’s shoulder.
You’ll find the group relatively early in the evening, around 9:30 p.m. local time, according to Space.com’s Joe Rao, if you look south. They will be standing for quite a while. Although not a tight group, so they are spread across the sky. EarthSky has a nice graph of where the moon will appear in relation to these six stars on each of the nights of January 23-27. You can also use an app like SkyView to find the stars if you don’t know where they are.
Part of the fun of watching is seeing the movement of celestial bodies against each other, as the moon makes its way through the large hexagon night after night, moving toward a full moon on January 27.
This movement has already occurred three times this winter, and, by Sky and telescope, will perform three more times after this week’s prom. You will again be able to see the moon cross the winter hexagon on February 19-24, March 19-23 and April 15-19. However, that doesn’t mean it will be the same every month. Plus, watching the moon move across the sky this week is a great way to get a good idea of the bright winter stars if you don’t already know them.
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