Orion

Orion is one of the easiest constellations to find and, luckily for me, appears in the southwest sky which is the direction my windows face.

I was never able to capture the whole constellation in the frame but I could get the major stars and "objects" such as Orion's belt and sword.

You will need to click on the images to enlarge them.  Hopefully you have a touch screen or other way to further enlarge the first photo.  The four outer stars from upper left clockwise to lower left are:  Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel, and Saiph.  The inner stars can be seen better in the second and third photos.

Orion 

 

Orion's belt (first without names and then with names)

Orion's sword (first without names and then with names)

Sky Watching

A recent quest of mine was to find the Big Dipper.  I associate it with my childhood when I could go out any clear night and find it easily.  These days with more lights (including powerful security lights) installed in the neighbourhood, I wasn't very hopeful.  However, with the use of a wonderful app called "Stellarium", I found it directly overhead and also found a nook between two buildings which blocked most incidental light so that I could get a good look at it and photograph it.  

Here is a photo "as is" and then the same image but with the names of the major stars added.  You will need to enlarge the images to get a better look (click on the image).

I also wanted to capture Venus and several accompanying stars and the moon (below).  The moon was a crescent but I wasn't able to reduce the exposure to show that without losing all the other celestial bodies.  You will definitely need to enlarge/expand this photo!

Now here is the crescent moon as I love it!  I find it such a beautiful phase of the moon.

And, lastly, here is the Flower Moon supermoon.  The exposure is not what I was going for but somehow I like the final result.