What to See in the Winter Night Sky

The winter night sky sparkles with some of the best celestial objects to observe from the northern hemisphere.

By the end of December, the winter constellations are high in the southern sky at around 11 pm.

Winter Planets

Mercury will be visible in the evening sky from mid-February to early March and in the morning from late March to early May. Mercury returns to the evening sky between early June and mid-July, then back to the morning sky between early August and mid-August. Look for Mercury again in the evening sky between late September and early November. Mercury will be brightest in the evening sky between February and March.

Venus is always brilliant, shining with a steady, silvery light. Mornings in the eastern sky at dawn from early January through to mid-June. Then, it will be invisible all through the summer into the early fall because of its proximity to the sun. Venus will return to the evening in the western sky, at dusk, from Early October through the end of December.

Mars, The Red Planet is visible in the night sky from January to mid-July, then shifts to the morning sky from mid-Oct to the end of December.

Jupiter is a splendid object visible in the southern sky as soon as darkness falls and does not set until early morning. Using higher magnifications, you will see the yellowish-flattened disc and the four Galilean satellites. You should be able to follow the movement of these moons from night to night. It will be visible in the mornings from January to May, evenings from May to November, and mornings from mid-December to the end of December.

Saturn shines like a yellowish-white "star" of moderate brightness. The famous rings are only visible in a telescope. Saturn is visible in the mornings from late January to early July and then in the evenings from July to December.

Winter Deep Sky Objects

Taurus contains two glorious winter-deep sky objects - the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. Both can be seen with the naked eye and are wonderful sights in binoculars, and small telescopes will further reveal the glittering array of bright, blue stars that make up the Pleiades. Orion's belt stars point to the bright orange star Aldebaran, the "eye of the bull". Extending away from it are the stars of the Hyades cluster. They are related, and binoculars show the cluster very well. Aldebaran is not a true member but lies halfway between the Hyades and ourselves.

To the west of the Hyades, we come to the most famous open cluster in the sky, the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters. Most people can see seven or eight stars with the naked eye, but binoculars show many more. If you want to get the whole cluster into the same binocular field, do not use magnification that is too high.

A short hop into neighbouring Auriga will bring you to the three exquisite open clusters - M36, M37 and M38 all of which can be spotted with binoculars and lie between Beta Tauri and Delta Aurigae.

With dark skies, you should be able to spot the double cluster Perseus with the naked eye. It's another great target for small telescopes and consists of the clusters NGC 869 and NGC 884.

Not far away in Camelopardalis is the line of stars known as "Kemble's Cascade". You can find it with binoculars just over a third of the way between stars CS Camelopardalis and Alpha Camelopardalis.

The constellation of Monoceros looks fairly indistinct, but among its many attractions is a single Messier object (M50). This mag. +5.9 open cluster is visible to the naked eye under dark skies as a hazy patch, although a 4-inch telescope will show more than 50 - 200 member stars. Most of its stars are blue-white, although there is a smattering of yellow giants among them.

No winter deep sky objects observing guide would be complete without the great Orion Nebula (M42). It's easily viewable to the naked eye under dark skies, and the bright swirls of nebulosity are a spectacular sight in even a modest telescope. Through an 8-inch telescope, some wonderful fine details emerge, with nebulosity tendrils rich in hydrogen alpha and OIII emissions. The bright code, known as the Trapezium because of the shape formed by the four very bright stars visible there, is best seen at high magnification.

While observing M42, don't forget the often-overlooked Running Man Nebula, M43, immediately north of M42. Also, don't forget to check out Collinder 70, which you may already know as Orions Belt. Collinder 70 is an open cluster comprising over 100 stars and spans an area 3° across.

Moving downward, the stars of Orion's Belt show the way to Sirius, the dog star, much the brightest star in the sky and only 8.6 lightyears away. It is a pure white star, but because it is low down and its light competes with a thick layer of atmosphere, it seems to flash various rainbow colours.

M1, or the Andromeda galaxy, is the nearest spiral galaxy to the Milky Way. To find Andromeda:

1. Find the Great Square of Pegasus and train your binoculars or telescope on the top-left star.
2. Move to the upper left, star hopping past the two brightest stars.
3. Turn 90° to the right and move up two faint stars.
4. Within your field of view should now be a roundish, fuzzy patch that is the Andromeda galaxy.

Winter Meteor Showers

Winter is a busy time for meteors, with lots of activity during the long nights. Hot on the tail of the Orionids last month are the Leonids, famous because their meteor showers, or storms, can be among the most spectacular. The outbursts of meteor activity are best seen when their parent object, comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle, is near perihelion (closest approach to the sun). In 1999-2002, a deep crossing of Tempel-Tuttle's debris streams produced more than 1000 meteors per hour outbursts. The Leonids are active from the 14th of November through to the 21st of November.

Following the Leonids are the Geminids, which are usually the strongest meteor shower of the year. They start around the 7th of December and last until the 17th.

The final winter meteor shower is the Quadrantids meteor shower. The Quadrantids have the potential to be the strongest shower of the year but are usually marred by poor January weather and the short length of maximum activity of 6 hours. They are active from the 1st to the 6th of January.

Click here for a visual guide to meteor showers.

Winter Time Constellations

Winter is an ideal time to observe the following constellations.

• Auriga
• Canes Venatici
• Canis Major
• Canis Minor
• Cetus
• Eridanus
• Gemini
• Lepus
• Lynx
• Monoceros
• Orion
• Perseus
• Taurus

Winter Deep Space Objects

• C7 - Camelopardalis (07h 36.9m +65° 36m)
• C25 Intergalactic Wanderer - Lynx (07h 38.1m +38° 53m)
• C31 Flaming Star Nebula - Auriga (05h 16.2m +34° 16m)
• C38 Needle Galaxy - Coma Berenices (12h 36.3m +25° 59m)
• C39 Eskimo Nebula - Gemini (07h 29.2m +20° 55m)
• C46 Hubbles Variable Nebula - Monoceros (06h 39.2m +08° 44m)
• C48 - Cancer (09h 10.3m +07° 02m)
• C49 Rosette Nebula - Monoceros (06h 32.3m +05° 03m)
• C50 Harp Cluster - Monoceros (06h 32.4m +04° 52m)
• C53 Spindle Galaxy - Sextans (10h 05.2m -07° 43m)
• C54 - Monoceros (08h 00.2m -10° 47m)
• C58 Caroline's Cluster - Canis Major (07h 17.8m -15° 37m)
• C64 Mexican Jumping Star - Canis Major (07h 18.8m -24° 57m)
• M1 The Crab Nebula - Taurus (05h 34.5m 22° 01m)
• M35 Shoe-Buckle Cluster - Gemini (06h 08.9m 24° 20m)
• M36 Pinwheel Cluster - Auriga (05h 36.1m 34° 08m)
• M37 Salt and Pepper Cluster - Auriga (05h 52.4m 32° 33m)
• M38 Starfish Cluster - Auriga (05h 28.7m 35° 50m)
• M40 Winnecke 4 - Ursa Major (12h 22.4m 58° 05m)
• M41 Little Beehive Cluster - Canis Major (06h 47.0m -20° 44m)
• M42 The Orion Nebula - Orion (05h 35.4m -05° 27m)
• M43 de Mairan's Nebula - Orion (05h 35.6m -05° 16m)
• M44 Praesepe - Cancer (08h 40.1m 19° 59m)
• M45 The Pleiades - Taurus (03h 47.0m 24° 07m)
• M46 - Puppis (07h 41.8m -14° 49m)
• M47 - Puppis (07h 36.6m -14° 30m)
• M48 Starfish Cluster - Hydra (08h 13.8m -05° 48m)
• M50 Heart-Shaped Cluster - Monoceros (07h 03.2m -08° 20m)
• M51 The Whirlpool Galaxy - Canes Venatici (13h 29.9m 47° 12m)
• M67 Golden-Eye Cluster (Pac-Man Cluster) - Cancer (08h 50.4m 11° 49m)
• M78 Casper the Friendly Ghost Nebula - Orion (05h 46.7m 00° 03m)
• M79 - Lepus (05h 24.5m -24° 33m)
• M93 Butterfly Cluster - Puppis (07h 44.6m -23° 52m)
• M98 - Coma Berenices (12h 13.8m 14° 54m)
• M99 Coma Pinwheel Galaxy - Coma Berenices (12h 18.8m 14° 25m)
• M100 Blowdryer Galaxy (Mirror Galaxy) - Coma Berenices (12h 22.9m 15° 49m)