Welcome back everyone and hi there to you if you are new. In this piece we are going to focus our Alternative Astronomy lens next on the Spring Equinox sky in the Northern Hemisphere as there are so many beautiful and wondrous things to see there.
Let’s start with a Happy Spring or what some of our ancient ancestors celebrated as New Year, that is until the calendar was changed, but more on that later…so Happy Spring or New Year to you, glad you are here either way.
In this, our first lesson of the Spring season, we are going to be identifying six different star constellations that are huge stars in this bringing in of the Spring season show in the sky during what we call the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Spring Equinox is the time of year for the Northern Hemisphere when The Sun has crossed back over to our part of the world, bringing with it longer and warmer days with it. The Spring Equinox is also when the daytime to night-time hours is close to equal in length.
Though The Sun and also The Moon have big roles to play in the equinox sky stories like we looked at in the Fall Equinox post (click here to read it)…we are going to look at the Spring Equinox stars for this one as we identify six star constellations:
- Orion The Hunter
- His 2 dogs Canis Major and Canis Minor or The Big Dog and The Little Dog.
- We will also be looking for Monoceros The Unicorn,
- Gemini The Twins,
- and Auriga The Charioteer.
We are going to start with one of the most famous star constellations and that is because it is so easy to find, Orion The Hunter.
Let’s find Orion first and find out why we call him The King of Spring.
Throughout the entire month of March in the Northern Hemisphere, you will find Orion The Hunter right in the middle of that special cross of the North-South Meridian Line and arc of the ecliptic, moving little by little night over night to the West, starting the hour after the sunset.
By the time of the Spring Equinox (occurring every year on March 20th, 21st or 22nd in the Northern Hemisphere), you will find Orion has moved to the West side of the special cross of the North-South Meridian Line and arc of the ecliptic. This is in the middle of what we call the Real All-Seeing Eye in the sky, found by facing due South and looking up above the horizon into the night sky.
Orion is so easy to find because of the abundance of very bright stars in this large constellation that resembles what our ancient ancestors saw in this constellation…a hunter, a man.
Orion’s 3 belt stars are usually the easiest to locate first and because Betelgeuse, Orion’s bright, yellowish shoulder star and Rigel, his leg star are some of the brightest stars in the Northern Hemisphere sky, it makes this constellation very easy to find.
Orion will always be found traveling along the arc of the ecliptic just below and to the East (your left when looking up at it) of Taurus The Bull’s location.
Since we’ve already learned how to identify Taurus (click here for that lesson) this will make our task even easier.
We have been talking a great deal about Orion and his-tory in our advanced private videos and will be talking much more about him here as well, because as we continue to go forward we will learn more and more about how Orion is “The Man” in so many famous stories you didn’t know he starred in, like this one…The Spring Equinox show.
Orion is taking center stage during the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere and this is just one reason he is The King of Spring.
Now as we know, every king must wear a crown and Orion is no different.
Since we have already learned to find Taurus, if you follow Taurus’ horns, you will see that one of them is connected to the next constellation we are looking for called Auriga, The Charioteer.
It is not often you will find two different constellations sharing a star in common and this is the first time we are seeing that with Taurus and Auriga sharing a star between them.
There is another thing that Taurus and Auriga share in common and even though it’s been there the whole time, even what we think of as experts in many different realms of study have all been blind to it. Coincidentally, this same blindness is a theme that shows up in the myth of Orion we will be looking at in the future.
Auriga is easy to identify if you look for the 2 very bright top stars in the constellation, first, high above Orion’s head.
Now combine both of the constellations of Taurus and Auriga and look at the way that they take shape together. Can you see the crown of Auriga, complete with the points surrounding it, like any proper crown has?
When you combine the shape of Auriga and Taurus and their location above Orion’s head just after sunset in the Spring Equinox sky, now you can see why we call Orion The King of Spring.
Look now a little to the East (your left when looking up) where we find Taurus and Auriga, just above Orion’s shoulder facing the East and you will find Gemini The Twins.
Gemini is easiest to identify by first locating the two very bright head stars in the constellation called Castor and Pollux and you should have no problem locating these celestial twins.
Gemini is located right in the middle of the cross of the North-South Meridian Line and the arc of the ecliptic during the Spring Equinox or what our ancient ancestors used to celebrate as New Year’s Day.
Gemini have big roles to play in many upcoming stories we will be looking more into in future pieces, as well.
At the end of Gemini’s eastward facing hand (your left when looking up at it), you will find. the very bright star Procyon in the tiny constellation Canis Minor or The Little Dog.
This brings us to the brightest star we will see in the night sky, what is called The Dog Star, Sirius that will help us locate Canis Major or The Big Dog in the night sky very easily.
Sirius is a gorgeous, bluish star that you will find underneath the special cross of the North-South Meridian Line and arc of the ecliptic, lower to the horizon and to the East (your left) of Orion’s eastward facing leg during the Spring Equinox and sits right in the middle of the North-South Meridian Line at sunset.
When I look at Sirius within Canis Major, it is so big and bright, it looks very much to like what our ancient ancestors called Wandering Stars, what we today commonly call planets and I can see why this star was important to so many of them when tracking the travels of the stars in the night sky.
Sirius also shares something in common with Gemini The Twins that we will get more into in future pieces and that is Sirius’ sitting in the middle of the North-South Meridian Line during this time of Spring Equinox or what our ancient ancestors called New Year and the New Year’s Day we celebrate on the calendar today.
All of the star constellations we have looked at so far are some of the easiest to identify in the night sky because of their abundance of very bright stars within them and this makes the Spring season in the Northern Hemisphere a great time to do some “sirius” stargazing…pun totally intended, but in all “siriusness” (sorry couldn’t resist), the Spring night-time sky show is spectacular.
Let’s end this post with a more difficult constellation to find, but with the help of what we’ve already learned, let’s see if we can find Monoceros The Unicorn in the sky a little easier.
As you can see from the star map, you will find the dimmer constellation of Monoceros The Unicorn crossing over the North-South Meridian Line, above Canis Major or the star Sirius and below Canis Minor or the star Procyon, just to the East (your left) of Orion.
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If you prefer, you can watch the video version of this post below and until next time…stay lit and be well,
shannon