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give is come to the Northern Hemisphere , but how can you recite when it will start ? No motivation to Google thevernal equinoctial point ; to work out when the season officially begins , you only postulate to wait at the stars .
The beginning ofspringin the Northern Hemisphere and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere is marked by the vernal equinox — the head when Earth ’s bloc is side - on to the sunshine , spreading ignitor and heat equally around the Earth . This class it come about on March 20 .
The constellation Leo contains one of the three stars of the Spring Triangle — an asterism that appears for several months beginning near the vernal equinox.
This minute in Earth ’s annual journeying around the sun marks the end of one season and the beginning of the next , and stargazer can make out the change because the springtime night sky , as seen from the Northern Hemisphere , is full of star and constellations only ever seen at this time of the year .
The easiest way for stargazers to note this seasonal transition on the equinoctial point is to look sou’west after sundown and bid leave-taking to the shining sensation of wintertime . Find the three apparent stars in Orion ’s Belt — Alnitak , Alnilam and Mintaka — and begin to key the bright stars around them .
Above the belt is Betelgeuse , one of thebrightest stars in the night sky , which seem slenderly crimson to the au naturel eye if you squint . Below the belt is Rigel , while to its left and slimly below is Sirius , the brightest maven in the night sky . Use these three stars to work an equilateral shape — the Winter Triangle .
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For celestial ratification of spring , regard compass north , and you ’ll see the seven bright stars of theBig Dipper / Plough riding richly in the sky — as in the memory help , " spring up , fall down . " As this asterism climb higher in the sky , use its stars to find the Spring Triangle : an equilateral trilateral made of the spring star Arcturus , Spica , and Denebola . All three stars are seeable with the naked eye , but a goodbackyard telescopeor pair ofstargazing binocularscan enhance the view .
draw the curve of the Big Dipper ’s handle to " arc to Arcturus , " identifying a undimmed ruby-red star above due eastern United States . Now " spike to Spica , " traveling a shortsighted distance to identify that blue star rising in the east - southeast . straight off above it will be Denebola in Leo , a classic spring constellation . ( Some skywatching guides may interchange Denebola with Regulus , another star in Leo that appears slightly further east near the lion ’s front paw ; Regulus is a brighter star , but using it as a waymarker stretches out the Spring Triangle considerably ) .
The Spring Triangle will remain visible in the night sky until August , when summer begins shift into fall .
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