![]() Betelgeuse is an Arabic name that roughly translates into the “armpit of the great one.” That’s right, Betelgeuse marks Orion’s armpit. What are the chances of that? It’s available in the early evening southern skies this month, and all three stars are bright enough to see even in light-polluted heavens.Īt the upper right-hand corner of the Winter Triangle is the super red giant star Betelgeuse, the second-brightest star in Orion the Hunter. It’s a perfect equilateral triangle, made up of three bright stars from three separate constellations. I know I am.Īnother fantastic “accidental” alignment of stars is the Winter Triangle. So when you see remarkable alignments of stars, like the three stars in a row that make up Orion’s belt, you have to be even more impressed. There’s no way you can travel in a spaceship to Orion the Hunter. The stars that make up the constellations are all at varying distances from Earth, from tens of light-years to thousands of light-years away. The constellations seem to be set against a black canvas, but that’s simply not the case. Whenever you gaze upon the constellations, it’s easy to forget that you see a three-dimensional picture. Now I want to tell you about something that really is super, the Winter Triangle. It’s astrology jargon, and astrology is nowhere near scientific! What really bugs me about the usage of the term is that it’s not born out of astronomy. The full moon this month is indeed a little closer than average to the Earth, but not all that much. If you weren’t told that it’s a supermoon, you probably wouldn’t know the difference. At the most it’s only 7 percent larger than an average full moon and fifteen percent brighter. The only thing is, it’s not all that super. There’s a full moon this weekend, but it’s not just any old full moon.
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