Moon in Winter Circle

[ilan]

Moon in Winter Circle February 14 and 15
Deborah Byrd in TONIGHT | February 14, 2019

On February 14 and 15, 2019, you’ll find the waxing gibbous moon shining inside a large asterism that we in the Northern Hemisphere often call the Winter Circle. It’s a very large star configuration made of brilliant winter stars. Around the world on this night, the moon shines inside the Circle. From anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, look for this pattern to fill up much of the eastern half of sky at nightfall. At 8 to 9 p.m., the Winter Circle will swing to your southern sky, and then it will drift into your western sky around midnight.

If you’re in the Southern Hemisphere … although it’s not winter for you, these same stars appear around the moon. But, for you, the Circle will appear upside-down with respect to our chart. The star Sirius will be at the top, instead of the bottom.

The Winter Circle is sometimes called the Winter Hexagon. It’s not one of the 88 recognized constellations, but instead an asterism – a pattern of stars that’s fairly easy to recognize. Our sky chart can’t adequately convey the Winter Circle’s humongous size! It dwarfs the constellation Orion the Hunter, which is a rather large constellation, occupying the southwestern part of the Winter Circle pattern.
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When the Moon is smaller than a 1/4 Moon, it is called a crescent Moon. When it is larger than a 1/4 Moon, but is not a full Moon, it is called a gibbous Moon. - ilan