Winter Hexagon over Mount Ling. The Winter Hexagon involves some of the brightest stars visible, together forming a large and easily found pattern in the winter sky of Earth's northern hemisphere. The stars involved can usually be identified even in the bright night skies of a big city. The six stars that compose the Winter Hexagon are Aldebaran, Capella, Castor (and Pollux), Procyon, Rigel, and Sirius. Here, the band of our Milky Way galaxy runs through the centre of the Winter Hexagon. Mount Ling (2303 metres) is located near Beijing, China. The Milky Way is our galaxy seen from the inside, forming a band of stars and nebulae stretching across the sky. Photographed on 9 January 2016. |