Winter’s stars are more easily found than those of other seasons. These December evenings bring the first of the winter constellations out of the east.
Announced by Pisces, the tight cluster of the Pleiades rises with the dark. Taurus with its red eye follows close behind. Then sprawling Orion, with its huge Rigel and Betelgeuse, fills the east.
And The Big Dipper moves along the northern horizon.
If you find the Big Dipper at midnight this month, you can keep real time in this new year by watching that constellation move around Polaris, the North Star.
In the middle of December nights, the Dipper lies in the east, its pointers, the outside stars of its “cup,” point due west, and mark the start of the Earth’s fresh cycle. As our planet turns towards spring, the Big Dipper moves out towards the center of the heavens, and its pointers are aligned north-south just when daffodils bloom and the trees start to blossom in April.
Then when the Dipper has moved to the western side of Polaris, and its pointers are lying east-west, summer will have reached its zenith. When the Dipper lies along the northern horizon, pointing due south up at the North Star, the leaves will all be falling from the maples. And as the Dipper comes around east again, it brings a New Year once more.
This is Bill Felker with Poor Will’s Almanack. I’ll be back again next week with notes for the first full week of Deep Winter. In the meantime, if you find the Big Dipper, you have the marker for the whole year. Of course, just looking up at the stars is the best way to start the year.
Poor Will's Almanack for 2023 as well as my new book of essays, The Virgin Point: Meditations in Nature, are now, available on Amazon or from www.poorwillsalmanack.com.