Constellation Hunting

The first thing I need to do is learn the spring constellations so I can find my way around the sky while using the 6" and 12" telescopes. I already had to learn a handful of constellations for last semester's astro lab, so hopefully that will give me a leg up. I had to choose twelve constellations and eight bright stars, which I initially located using Stellarium. Most of the constellations I chose were ones that are compromised of a lot of bright stars, while others are simply often-referenced or have interesting shapes. Here are my choices:

Constellations:

• Orion
• Canis Major
• Gemini
• Ursa Major
• Ursa Minor
• Leo
• Taurus
• Auriga
• Cassiopeia
• Virgo
• Cepheus
• Bootes

Stars:

• Arcturus
• Rigel
• Betelgeuse
• Aldebaran
• Sirius
• Procyon
• Castor
• Pollux

Last night was beautifully clear and I ended up outside for a while at about 8 pm, so I was able to spend some time studying the stars and constellations in and around Orion. Hopefully there will be more clear nights this week so I can continue to study the stars and start practicing with the telescopes. In the mean time, I will use Stellarium and other references to study what I need to know for observing and for my future sky quizzes.