I want to share the joy of stargazing in the early morning hours this week in Skywatch. I was a super early riser for many years before I retired, but not by choice. For me to be to work on time at 5 a.
m., I climbed out of bed a little before 4. As brutal as that is, one of the great things about it is that if clouds don’t get in the way, I can start my day with the stars.
This time of year is especially a treat because the stars are dazzling and bright as I look in the east. That’s because those stars make up the great winter constellations rising and adorning in the early morning eastern skies. These are the same stars we see in the early evening skies in early January.
I lovingly call this part of the sky “Orion and his Gang.” Even if you’re not all that hip to the constellations, chances are you recognize Orion the Hunter. It’s the one that resembles an hourglass or a cockeyed bowtie.
Its hallmarks are three bright stars lined up neatly in a row that make up Orion’s belt. Just below the belt are three fainter stars that make up Orion’s sword. The middle star in the sword is fuzzy.
That’s because it’s not a star but rather a massive cloud of hydrogen gas more than 8,500 trillion miles away when new stars are gravitationally being born. To the lower right of Orion’s belt is Rigel, the brightest star in Orion, marking the hunter’s left knee. Betelgeuse is the other super bright star to the upper left of the belt, marking Orion’s armpit.
You can see .