In N. Georgia, what stars am I seeing at night?

Question

Just curious what stars I am looking at in the night sky. Is there a site I can go to find out?

Answer 1

The complete set of stars you can see in the night sky is pretty consistent across the northern hemisphere. But the site in my reference will let you chart the night sky for your location on a given date. If you don't know your local latitude and longitude, you can set it for the nearest city.

Answer 2

Hi Chooly!

You need a book with star maps, showing you the stars and constellations you can see. The best one is "The Stars -- A new Way to See Them" by H.A. Rey. It has far-and-away the best constellation maps ever drawn. I credit Rey's work for my interest in the stars.

The stars you can see depend on your latitude. From north Georgia, on a sparkling clear winter evening (or about 5 in the morning now, at the end of September) with an unobstructed view of the southern horizon, you can see Canopus, the second-brightest star in the sky. Canopus is forever hidden from us here in the New York area, where I live.

On the other hand, you can't see the Southern Cross or Alpha Centauri. You'd need to go to the Florida Keys for a glimpse of them.

Answer 3

Hey, Chooly, I am in North Georgia also. If this really interests you, visit the telescope at Emory sometime. They are open Friday and Saturday nights when the sky is not cloudy. I think they have the largest telescope open to the public in the US, and it's very interesting to see planets and nebula through it.

Answer 4

Go to http://space.about.com/library/weekly/blskymaps.htm and you can make maps of the whole sky or parts of it, for your location.

Answer 5

http://www.wunderground.com/sky/index.asp
http://www.go-astronomy.com/star-charts.htm
http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/time/maps.html
http://www.skymaps.com/
http://www.skymaps.com/