I like Orion as well, but I like Taurus even more, since that area of the sky contains the Pleaides, which for my money is the most beautiful naked-eye object in the sky. Even better with binoculars, of course.
Considering I work in a planetarium I oughta have something more obscure than Orion as my favorite… but that’s what I usually tell people when I do my star shows. But I do have a cool favorite star, IMHO:
We planetarium geeks have annual conferences, and when we go, there’s usually a constellation “shoot-off”, kind of like a spelling bee for constellation identification. (Grand prize is usually a laser pointer.) Last year I was stunned that I was able to actually FIND Triangulum, the Triangle, one of the great-grandaddies of obscure stupid constellations. (It’s a triangle. Three stars. But WHICH three?!)
Next round: I miss locating the star Alberio, in Cygnus the Swan! UGH! My favorite star! It’s my favorite because it’s a pretty double star - look at it in a telescope and you’ll see a gold star right up next to a blue star. Very pretty, and fun to show off at star parties.
I missed Alberio because the stars in the host planetarium were a little on the dim and fuzzy side, not bright and sharp as I was used to… and I didn’t have much time to double-check before I pointed to it.
I will always like The Southern Cross as I have fond memories of my first night in Africa, lying on the grass looking up at an unimaginably vast collection of stars that this city boy had never even thought was up there.
Sure I knew about all the stars but seeing a night sky where you can’t see a area bigger than a dime without a star in it- so bright you can read by the moonlight easily and the Cross stands out so prominently wow
- Orion
- Draco
I like orion the most- It’s easy to find and cool looking.
Ursa Major of course.
Though I like the names Draco and Delphius.
Cygnus. Large, elegant, and I spent almost every night of five weeks in a national forest in Washington sleeping outside and looking at it.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds it WAY more fun to take my binocs out. I’m not sure why - we have a big ass telescope, and I’m always screwing around with the binocs. I think maybe it’s because I tend to like constellations and asterisms a little more than Messiers & planets. I also like finding my own. “Hey, look at that! It looks sorta like an upside down cat with the head of a parrot!”
Wow…I was certain I’d be the only person to say Orion. And my reason…one very chilly night my older brother, whom I adored blindly and from whom I can’t get the time of day, and I were outside and he looked up and began to sing this song to himself (I imagined he wanted to share it with me…). It’s a Jethro Tull classic. I’m a JT girl.
Been my favorite ever since and I wait longingly every year for its return.
drewbert wrote:
Which of the Cygnus stars is Alberio? Alpha Cygni? Beta Cygni?
(I have excruciatingly detailed data on most stars within 75 light-years at http://www.stellar-database.com , but “Alberio” isn’t in there. I’m worried I might have missed it by accident.)
tracer, it’s Beta Cygnii, the head of the Swan (though it should be spelled Albireo).
Yeah, I’m always doing that. Hell of a way to treat my “favorite” star, eh?