• On these long December nights, you can find the constellation Auriga the Charioteer. The Heavenly Chariot - with its brilliant yellow star Capella - starts the journey in the northeast at early evening, flies overhead at midnight and

finishes up in the northwest at dawn.
• Our chart shows Auriga at around midnight, when this pentagon-shaped

pattern hits the zenith, or highest point in the sky. By this time, tonight's moon will have set, and a dark country sky will bring out the pavement of stars over which the Charioteer travels: the Milky Way.
• As seen from either the Northern or Southern Hemisphere, the constellations Auriga and Orion always climb highest for the night in concert. If you live at middle and far northern latitudes, you'll see Auriga above Orion. If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you'll see Auriga below Orion. Either way, Auriga shines to the north of Orion the Giant Hunter. That dazzlingly-brilliant star to northwest of Orion, or southwest of the star Capella is no star at all but the giant planet Jupiter. Look for Jupiter to light up this part of the starry sky for many months to come.
• There are several easy-to-find and famous star clusters in Auriga. With binoculars, you might be able to spot them. They're known by their "M" numbers - named for the famous astronomer Charles Messier - M35, M36, M37 and M38.
• Now turn your focus to Capella, the brightest star in Auriga. According to star lore, Capella represents Amalthea, the she-goat that fed the infant Zeus when he was hidden away in a cave on Mt Ida in Crete. This was during the war between the

Olympian and the Titan gods. Of course, the river of milk that spilled over from Amalthea must have formed the Milky Way!
• Auriga's stars Menkalinan and Theta Aurigae run north to south. They point northward to Polaris, the North Star, and south to Orion's bright ruddy star Betelgeuse. With binoculars, check out the star cluster M35 between Theta Aurigae and Betelgeuse.