Sky & Telescope - January 2023 - 72

BEGINNER'S SPACE by Peter Tyson
How Do I Use the
Center Sky Map?
CAN YOU FIND ORION in the night sky?
How about the Big Dipper? Can you
identify the North Star or the Pleiades?
The first step into amateur astronomy is
learning the stars in your evening sky,
just using your unaided eyes. Once you
do so, they'll be your companions for
life. And they'll be your guideposts for
finding everything fainter that you can
hunt with binoculars or a telescope.
Turn to our monthly, two-page sky
map on pages 42-43. Print subscribers
will notice how we've printed the center
map on heavier paper stock. That's so, if
you want, you can carefully pull out the
map for use outside while stargazing. Or
just take the whole issue with you.
Before we look at how to use the
map, let's familiarize ourselves with it.
(For these instructions, use the center
map rather than the tilted version of it
at right, which we'll get to later.) Like
any detailed map, it may look confusing
when you first lay eyes on it. But the
more you examine it, the more it makes
sense. Think of it as a map of the visible
sky overhead, akin to a geographic map
of your area on Earth. The constellations
are like states or regions, the stars
like cities.
There are key
differences in the
two kinds of map,
though. The stars
and constellations
appear to revolve
slowly around
Earth through
the night as our
planet rotates. And
they shift about
1° westward from
one night to the next
as Earth orbits the
Sun. So you need maps
showing where they are
at different hours of the
night and at different times
of the year. This month's map
is for early evenings throughout
January 2023.
Our map is also designed for a sky9h
watcher
at or near latitude 40° north.
That's about the latitude of New York
or Denver, Madrid or Beijing. If you're
far south of 40°N, stars in the southern
part of the sky will appear higher on the
map, while stars in the north will be
lower. If you're far north of 40°N, the
reverse will be true.
THREE TIPS
1. Look for the bright stars and patterns
first. The faint ones are often hard to
see in the sky.
2. Constellations look a lot bigger
overhead than on the map!
3. To see the faintest stars shown, avoid
streetlights and brightly moonlit nights.
Now
Sirius
α
β
F
a
c
i
n
g
look more closely
at the center sky map. Constellation
names, like Gemini and Andromeda,
are in purple type. The thin purple
lines help portray each constellation,
though of course you won't see them
in the sky. Names of stars, planets,
and deep-sky objects like galaxies and
star clusters display in white. Some of
the stars are labeled with Greek letters
instead of a name; we'll explain why in
a later Beginner's Space. Note also the
cloud-like Milky Way, stretching from
Monoceros in the lower left to Cygnus
in the upper right.
You can also see, in green, the
S
ecliptic, which is the path the Sun,
Moon, and planets take around the sky
72 JANUARY 2023 * SKY & TELESCOPE
Bellatrix
Betelgeuse
ORION
M42
Rigel
CANI S MAJOR
M41
E
ι
α
β
θ
µ
η
γ
β
F a c i
Capella
AURIGA
M36
M38
M37
M35
GEMINI
α
Castor
Pollux
HYDRA
n g
E
Zenith
+20°
R
0°
a s t
A
T
O
6h
F
P I SCES
ο
ι
β
ε
ζ
δ
γ
n
i
c
a
Algol ρ
β
LYNX
α
LEO
MINOR
β
E
N
g
M34
LACERTA
CYGNUS
β
F
χ
Vega
LYRA
W
N
g
n
i
c
a
F
n
a
c
i
+60°
+80°
Polaris
L i t t l e
D i p p e r
δ
β+80°
γ
ζ
γ
β
+60°
15h
g
N
URSA
MINOR
DRACO
ι
ν
η
α
Thuban
ANDROMEDA
α
r e a t
a r e
α
h
o
r
t
β
η
µ
CANI S
MINOR
α
Procyon
E
Q
U
18h
M27
12h
γ
E
λ
α
δ
ε
ζ
κ
β
γ
C
L
I
P
T
α
COLUMBA
I
C
Moon
Jan 6
ζ
β
LEPUS
β
γ
α
β
γ
ε
ο2
ERIDANUS
Aldebaran
TAURUS
CA
M50
MONOCEROS
M47
M46
Pleiades
Hyades
TRIANGULUM
M33
ARI ES
α
CANCER
M44
γ
M67
α
LEO
β
ζ
α
γ
δ
PERSEUS
ε
CAMELOPARDAL I S
α
Alcor
Mizar
URSA
MAJOR
η
α
Double
Cluster
δ
β
γ
ε
CASS IOPE IA
γ
β
CEPHEUS
Deneb
Albireo
β
M48
α
λ
ξ ο
M31
M82
M81
M52
ε
α
M39
61
α
M29
ε
γ
N o r t h e r n
C r o s s
δ
γ
β
α
δ
ε
ζ
µ
α
B i g
D i p p e r
α
Mars
Moon
Jan 2
α
γ
β
α
β
Sky & Telescope - January 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - January 2023
