Good morning my friends and fellow stargazers!
I woke up pretty early this morning and went into my front yard to see the stars. It was thankfully cloudless and I was able to see the major stars of the constellations Orion The Hunter and Taurus The Bull looking south and west.
As y'all can see, using one of the road lamps as foreground, I was able to capture both constellations and the three major bright stars that make up the Winter Triangle asterism: Sirius, Procyon, and Betelgeuse.
Sirius is, of course, the brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the Constellation Canis Major (the Greater Dog). Sirius is actually the brightest star in a binary star system, with its smaller twin (Sirius B) invisible except through a telescope.
Procyon is the brightest star in the Constellation Canis Minor, and at a distance of just around 11.5 light-years, is one of Earth's nearest celestial neighbors. Procyon is usually the eighth-brightest star in the night sky.
Finally, we have the red giant star Betelgeuse, which is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky and, after Rigel, the second-brightest in the Constellation Orion. Betelgeuse is one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye. To give y'all an idea of how big Betelgeuse actually is, if it were at the center of our Solar System, its surface would lie beyond the asteroid belt and it would engulf the orbits of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and possibly Jupiter. Now that's big folks!
Well, that's it for this evening folks. Be sure to come back tomorrow night for, what I hope to be, a very awesome shot of the Halloween Blue Moon of 2020. Till then, keep your eyes to the night skies, y'all!
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