Constellations by Season

When to use this

Any clear night — the targets shift roughly every three months.

• Picking what to look for before you go out
• Pairing a camp date with a target sky

See it done

What you need

• Eyes
• Optional: red-light headlamp + printed chart

Step by step

1. 1.Year-round (circumpolar): Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Polaris, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Draco. From the Northern Hemisphere these never set — they wheel around Polaris all night, every night.
2. 2.Spring (March–May, 9–11pm): Leo (the lion, with the bright star Regulus), Boötes (the kite shape ending in red Arcturus), Virgo (containing Spica, blue-white).
3. 3.Summer (June–August): the Summer Triangle owns the sky — Vega in Lyra, Deneb in Cygnus, Altair in Aquila. Scorpius rises low in the south with red Antares at its heart.
4. 4.Fall (September–November): the Great Square of Pegasus sits high overhead. Andromeda extends from one corner — the Andromeda Galaxy is naked-eye visible from a dark site.
5. 5.Winter (December–February): the richest sky of the year. Orion dominates, with Sirius (brightest star in the sky) below and to the left, Taurus and the Pleiades cluster above and to the right, Gemini high overhead.
6. 6.A constellation rises about 4 minutes earlier each night (2 hours per month) — by the time it’s overhead at 9pm in one month, it’s setting at 9pm three months later.

Pro tips

• New moon weekends are dark-sky weekends. Use the lunar calendar to plan camp nights when the sky is darkest.
• The Andromeda Galaxy is the farthest object you can see with your naked eye — 2.5 million light-years away. From a Bortle 3 sky or darker, it’s a faint smudge near the Great Square.

Common mistakes

• Looking for winter constellations on a summer night. Orion is below the horizon all summer; don’t spend an hour searching.
• Forgetting that latitude shifts what you see. From the Texas Hill Country you can see parts of Scorpius that Maine campers never get a clean view of.

Analog companion

Prefer the full landing page first? See the northern hemisphere constellation wheel.