Constellations
Your Best Guides
Even if you can't get out too far, going to a Bortle 5 or 6 a little away from the city should be enough to see the structures made by the brightest stars. To start your journey, I will introduce you to two of the most recognizable constellations. Pull out a compass (phone app is fine) to try and locate them. To the north is Ursa Major, once a poor woman who had a child with Zeus and got Hera's sharp end for it, morphed into the great bear, and put in the sky to save her from being hunted by her own son. To the south is Orion the hunter, who in life was doomed to die to a scorpion sent by Gaia. All of their main stars are visible even in Bortle 7 skies and they will be amazing markers for the rest of the night sky, at least in the northern hemisphere.
Click on the one you wish to see first, but keep in mind Ursa Major is always visible in the northern hemisphere, Orion may not be during spring or summer.
Big Dipper (Ursa Major)
Orion
Keep in mind that the seasonal boundaries are not exact, you can usually see constellations from the season following late at night in the season before (e.g. Andromeda is visible in August past midnight). Also, depending on your latitude, some of these constellations may not be visible. The easiest way to check this is through a physical star map or something like Stellarium.
Here is a list of all the constellations showcased on this page and the two above in case you have the name, some are on the page if you keep scrolling.
They are highlighted based on their prominent season: blue is winter, green is spring, yellow is summer, orange is autumn, unhighlighted is visible all year.
Parentheticals: Z - part of zodiac, S - part of summer triangle, UM / O - found with Ursa Major or Orion since both are available.
Aquarius (Z)
Aries (Z)
Cygnus (S)
Libra (Z)
Lyra (S)
Pisces (Z)
Sagittarius (Z)
Scorpius (Z)
Zodiacs
The zodiac constellations are special given that these constellations are probably more likely to have been heard of by the layperson, but they are real star structures in the sky and some are quite pretty! Some are already covered in the guide section, which you can check in the list above. The reason these constellations are special is because the sun passes through them at some point during the year. Unfortunately, the sun sign you were born under probably doesn't match your zodiac constellation because the sky has shifted due to Earth's precession since the system was made.
The seasons in which you can see the zodiac are a few months removed from the time they govern because you normally can't see constellations behind the sun. For example, Libra governs late September to late October yet is viewed best in the summer. In this section are the other summer zodiacs.
Scorpius is next in line for the zodiac, and is a very beautiful constellation (totally not biased). Representing a giant scorpion sent by Hera to kill Orion, it was unsuccessful in its mission but continues chasing Orion around the sky to this day. With a very distinct shape, if there is little light pollution, the backdrop of the Milky Way core behind it accentuates its uniqueness. Libra is also sometimes seen as extensions of Scorpius' claws, which is fair considering claws are much cooler than laws.
Sagittarius comes afterward and has a large, almost fluid shape, representing an archer, although its main asterism is called the teapot. The black hole at the center of the Milky Way is named Sagittarius A* (A-star because astronomers are bad at names) as it falls within this constellation's bounds.
Another constellation I wish to mention is Ophiuchus. Despite not being a traditional zodiac sign, its bounds fall much more in line with the actual path the sun traces out, but Scorpio was put in its place because it's a much more distinct constellation. Interestingly, the brightest star of Hercules is seen as part of Ophiuchus' shape (not visible in below picture). The others are not important for beginners, although Serpens does have the interesting distinction of being the only split constellation, but its other half is out of frame.
Moving on to the fall/autumn zodiacs, next is Capricornus (right), commonly referred to as a goat but also has half a fish attached to it. Next in line is Aquarius (left), bringer of water. In this image, Jupiter and Saturn are also visible in Aquarius and Capricorn respectively, but this picture was taken in July 2021 and they have moved since then.
The last fall zodiac is Pisces, two fish conjoined for an unknown reason. If this is your sign, I'm sorry, because Pisces is one of the biggest but dimmest constellations in the whole sky. You'll have to strain to see it with the naked eye, but a long exposure through a camera will be able to capture it better
Finally, the only winter zodiac sign I have not covered is Aries, mainly because it is a pain to see. Not only is it dim, but it's tiny and virtually invisible above Bortle ~5, and is the small line in this picture. This is meant to be a ram. It does not look at all like a ram. If this is your sign, I am extra sorry. Other constellations are highlighted in the picture below, but the only one I have not mentioned so far is Triangulum. It is a pretty small constellation, but it is notable for hosting the Triangulum Galaxy, the third biggest galaxy in the Local Group (M33). M31 is the Andromeda Galaxy!
