Tonight’s waxing gibbous moon resides inside the Winter Circle – an incredibly large star configuration made of six brilliant winter stars. Look for the Winter Circle to fill up much of the eastern half of sky at nightfall. By mid-evening, the Winter Circle will swing to your southern sky, and then it will drift into the western sky around midnight.

More on the Winter Circle: Brightest winter stars

By the way, if you see two star-like objects that shine more brilliantly than any of the Winter Circle stars, you are looking at the planets Venus and Jupiter. Venus, the brighter of these two dazzling worlds, pops out into the western sky at dusk and early evening. From northerly latitudes, Jupiter appears high in the southern sky as darkness falls, and as seen from the Southern Hemisphere, Jupiter is seen in the northwest at nightfall. Shortly after Venus sets in the west around mid-evening, look for the red planet Mars to rise in the east; and as Jupiter sits low in the west around midnight, that’s when the ringed planet Saturn comes up in the east.

February 2012 guide to the five visible planets

Setting and rising times for the planets in your sky

The Winter Circle – sometimes called the Winter Hexagon – is not one of the 88 recognized constellations. Rather, it’s an asterism – a pattern of stars that’s fairly easy to recognize. Our sky chart cannot adequately convey the Winter Circle’s humongous size! It dwarfs the constellation Orion the Hunter, which is a rather large constellation, occupying the southwestern part of the Winter Circle pattern.

Here’s how to locate the Winter Circle from mid-northern latitudes. At nightfall and early evening, look high overhead for the bright star Capella. This star marks the top (or more properly, the northern terminus) of the Winter Circle.

As Capella shines way overhead, the constellation Orion the Hunter is prowling in the southern sky. Draw a line downward through Orion’s Belt to find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky. This star marks the bottom (the southern tip) of the Winter Circle.

We include this sky chart to help you connect the Winter Circle stars.

By the way, tonight’s waxing gibbous moon also nearly aligns with the June solstice point – where the sun resides in front of the backdrop stars on the first day of a Northern Hemisphere summer. So enjoy the Winter Circle. And contemplate the return of summer – months from now!