This Month in the Sky: Look for the stars and moon

Look for stars! To find East, look to see where the sun rises in the morning and remember where so that you can look in that direction after dark to find the Orion constellation. 

 

*Note: East is at the left on this skymap because it is a view of the sky above you.

Orion Constellation

A constellation is like a connect-the-dots made of stars in the sky. “Orion” is the name given to this group of stars that looks like a person. Do you see the torso with a narrow waist and two arms?

See if you can find Orion around 6pm on the Eastern horizon by looking for 3 bright stars close together that make Orion’s Belt—these form the narrow “waist” of Orion’s torso.

http://earthsky.org/tonight/orion-the-hunter-is-easy-to-spot

Do you see any other shapes when you look at the stars?

Moon Phases (February 2016):