Twinkle, Twinkle Little Bear

What kind of an ejit wanders round the HNC when it's pitch black and freezing cold?
Well, the kind that wants to take photos of stars on such a beautiful crisp clear night!.




Yes, dear HNCCB visitor (thanks - you're the only one today!) here's my pic of Ursa Major (the Great Bear) on the right, with Ursa Minor (Little Bear) - top left.
Didn't quite go high enough, but the top tip should be Polaris (the North Star) - which is always...well...erm.... North!
Yeah, I know they don't look much like bears

You'll probably need to click on the images to see the stars - the right hand picture shows my attempt to draw the constellations on top of the stars

Below here is the view East where you can see Orion






The curvy right hand bit is his bow - the three diagonal stars are the famous "Orion's Belt" - heard a rumour recently that all three stars had simultaneously, instantaneously gone Nova, then to singluarities (black holes) - but turned out that Irene was looking at the wrong bit of sky - phew, thank heavens for that - literally!

The three vertical stars below Orion's belt are his sword. Incedentally - his left hand shoulder is a star called Betelgeuse - cool name, probably why Tim Burton choose it for his film

Ooh yeah - and just off to the top left of this picutre is Gemini - and no it's not related to the failed UK Eurovision act

To find out more about our night sky, I recommend you download a copy of Stellarium