Sidebar Site Navigation Wyoming Skies for March February 27,
2009 — A monthly look at the night skies of Wyoming, written by
Ron Canterna, professor in the University of Wyoming Department
of Physics and Astronomy. A spectacular view of the plane of our
Milky Way presents itself at about 9 p.m. This hazy band of
unresolved stars stretches from the southern horizon through the
constellations Gemini and Orion, which are about 45 degrees
above the western horizon, and then passes down to the northern
cardinal point on the horizon. Starting from the southern
horizon, the Milky Way passes through the constellation Canis
Major and the bright star of Sirius, Canis Minor, the twins of
Gemini, Auriga, the yellowish-star Capella (the She-Goat),
Perseus and finally resting on the northern horizon at
Cassiopeia (W-shaped). Look for the Orion nebula, the Pleiades
and the Hyades cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus the
Bull (V-shaped) and stars of various colors, like the reddish
Betelgeuse in Orion, orange-colored