This is a wide-angle photo of all winter night sky constellations that are at the meridian in the early evening in February and March.

The three distinctive second magnitude stars lined up in ORION’S BELT are the easiest starting point to navigate to the other stars and constellations.

The orange/red Betelgeuse and white/blue Rigel show that stars have contrasting colors.

Use ORION’S BELT pointing down left and find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is in the constellation of CANIS MAJOR.

Use the belt and point up to the right and find the “V” shaped cluster Hyades and the spectacular Pleiades in TAURUS the Bull.

Aldebaran is an orange-colored star, designating the bull's eye.

Once you have your sky bearings, you can locate other constellations: 

AURIGA with bright star Capella.

A bright star (Procyon) and dim star in CANIS MINOR.

Twin bright stars (Castor and Pollux) in the constellation GEMINI.

If you have a clear south horizon, thy to find LEPUS (the hare) and COLUMBA (the dove) south of ORION

The photos were taken from Moorpark College Observatory with a Sony A7 camera and a 14 mm Rokkor Wide Angle lens.

f/5.6,  20-second exposure.

Clear Skies!