What is your favourite constellation?

[rancid badger]

I was just on my way from work tonight and Orion the hunter was glowing like a handful of diamonds in the southern sky. This is my favourite constellation, I think mainly because it's the one that, for me, actually looks like what it's supposed to be; an archer drawing a bow, about to let fly.
I just thought I'd ask if anyone else has any favourites and would they like to tell us why.

Regards
R.B.

 

[Greg]

The Plaedies are my favourite, they remind me of good times with an old flame!!

 

[commandocal]

the orion hunter, i.e one with the bow and the orions belt and the W sign and the north star , Only ones i know thats why

 

[Greg]

On a serious note I like the Leo Constellation but Orion does have its moments especially on a crystal clear evening.

 

[Toddy]

The Hunter; Orion You can follow him through the skies. He's always highest in our darkest months too.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[robin wood]

delphinius

 

[Jodie]

Orion cos - for some reason - I find it reassuring to see it up there. It moves around (as
I perceive it, that is!) and being in London with tall buildings and light pollution I don't
often see Orion, so when I do it's nice. Occasionally I think that I might find it quite
troubling to be in the southern hemisphere and not recognise the sky, and that I might
experience what Douglas Adams meant when he wrote:

"In moments of great stress, every life form that exists gives out a tiny sublimal signal.
This signal simply communicates an exact and almost pathetic sense of how far that
being is from the place of his birth. On Earth it is never possible to be further than sixteen
thousand miles from your birthplace, which really isn't very far, so such signals are too
minute to be noticed. Ford Prefect was at this moment under great stress, and he was
born 600 light years away in the near vicinity of Betelgeuse."
So as an earthling my signal would still be pretty weak

I also like Cassiopeia because in 1986 when Halley's comet came past the person my
school went to hear doing a stand up comet-ry explanation (including how to find it with
our binocs) mentioned that we could use Cass. to orient our eyes to the right bit of the
sky.

Right I'm going to dig out that amazing constellation recognising 'game' that someone
put on here a while back. It was outstanding. Startling in fact.

 

[Jodie]

This one:-
http://www.quietbay.net/Science/astronomy/nightsky/

Tadpole originally posted about it in another thread.

 

[PaleoHunterGatherer]

Big Dipper. Simply because It's the one I can readily recognize each night.
Cheers
Alex

 

[Greg]

Big Dipper. Simply because It's the one I can readily recognize each night.
Cheers
Alex

Big Dipper as in what is commonly known in the UK as 'The Plough' ie Ursor Major / The Great Bear. I like that aswell along with Caseiopea and Ursa Minor / The Little Bear - all for finding the North Star / Polaris!
I have spent many a night all over the world looking at the stars, they are just simply fascinating.

 

[Shewie]

Ursa Major for me as it`s the first one I discovered when I was little, also because it contains the ever popular Plough (which even my wife can recognise!!)


Rich

 

[Toadflax]

I'd gave to say Orion - like an old friend appearing in the Winter, then going away again. A measure of the yearly cycle.


Geoff

 

[Fin]

Orion, Cassiopeia, Ursa Major - all favorites. You get some crackers in the Southern Hemisphere too - Southern Cross, Seven sisters and also Orion (lying on it's side) in winter. In some ways the Southern Hemisphere night sky is more spectacular - it's like a belt of star clusters stretching across the sky.

 

[Matt Weir]

I would have been about 6 at the time. It was a frosty winters morning, a couple of hours before dawn and we were just starting a days hunting on farmland in Wales when I pointed into the sky and asked 'What's that called Dad?', 'That's Orion!' I was told and that scene has stuck with me for the past 30 years. So, I'd say Orion also

 

[palmnut]

I'm in Australia this week, and Orion appears to be hanging in the sky upside-down: it's also visible in summer. I'm sorry, but this just plain WRONG and should not be allowed. I demand that this be rectified immediately (if not, sooner)!

Talking of wrong - Images of Santa on his sleigh, Christmas trees, drunken people wearing plastic reindeer antlers, and it's twenty-something (Celcius) outside - this cannot be be right.

I'm missing my woodlands and countryside, even if it is winter there. Does it show?

 

[Wayland]

Ursor Major without a doubt. It points me to the North and tells me where I belong.

 

[Jodie]

Plough - yes! Very easy to recognise

 

[John Fenna]

The Plough and Orion - easy to recognise and navigate by,
Both old friends!

 

[SimonM]

Like most folk so far I have to say Orion - easy to recognise & aids night navigation, closely followed by Cassiopeia.

 

[Ogri the trog]

As a child, I remember looking to the stars and always recognising the three in a short line, flanked by two other stars further out. It often set me wondering what tales they could tell from looking down for so long upon our small Earth.
As a Scout, I learnt that there were more stars in this constellation and it was named after the famed hunter "Orion".
Some years after that, Orion crept up again in unhappier circumstances; a helicopter crash in the Falkland Islands killed seven men, five of whom I could class as collegues, one of those was a close friend - the Squadron dedicated the seven stars or Orion to the names of those men as the constellation can be seen from UK, Germany and the Falklands.
In more recent times, I came to learn that Orion makes its appearance in the latter days of summer, arcing through the winter skies as a sign to the countrymen that they may take certain prey only at this time of year.
My latest lesson about this old friend is that it can be used as an aid to navigation.
I don't get to see Orion as often as I used to, as the prevailing weather in this part of the country obscures much with cloud - but it is like a reminder that if I'm out hunting - keep myself hidden for a better night out.

So, whilst my recognition of this constellation brings sweet as well as bitter memories, its Orion for me as well.

Ogri the trog