Say goodbye to Orion and the stars of winter, as they appear on
April evenings low over the northwestern horizon. Rigel, the
brilliant blue-white star marking Orion's knee, has just set at
ten pm (daylight saving time). Taurus is very low in the
northwest. Capella, the bright star in the constellation Auriga,
the Charioteer, is north of Taurus's orange star Aldebaran. The
Big Dipper, an asterism or star shape within the larger
constellation Ursa Major, is very high in the northeastern part
of the sky. Its pointer stars, along the edge of the dipper's
bowl, point to Polaris, the North Star, at the end of the handle
of the Little Dipper, also known as the constellation Ursa
Minor. In the other direction, the pointers point to Leo the
Lion, in the south. The star Denebola marks Leo's tail, and
Regulus his head. The Big Dipper's curved handle "arcs to
Arcturus," the orange giant star in the constellation Bootes,
the Herdsman. Continue the arc past Arcturus to "speed to
Spica," the bright alpha star in Virgo, to t