Which Is Your Favourite Constellation?!

[PhotoGav]

I have just been sitting in my astro-deckchair in the garden staring into space, enjoying this beautiful clear and dark December night. Plenty of constellations up there waving to me, but there is one that always makes me feel more welcome than the others. There is something so familiar and bold about this constellation that I am happy when this time of year comes round and he is up there, looking over the world. My favourite constellation is of course the mighty hunter, Orion. The dynamic shape, the hint of a fuzzy even with the naked eye and that wonderful trio of stars in his bejewelled belt. Fabulous!

What's your favourite constellation?

[ScottS]

Cygnus for me. Just so much stuff to look at in that area.

[Ruud]

I'm very unfaithful when it comes to constellations, but tonight, Auriga was my favourite.

It has some nice, bright open clusters.

[Stu]

I'll go with Orion in the Winter and Cygnus in the summer :-)

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[Paul M]

I have a fondness for Taurus. The Hyades are quite something on a dark night.

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[swamp thing]

Leo, without a single doubt. Every time I see it I think......here come the galaxies

[southernman]

Carina , but from my location how could I pick any other except maybe Sagittarius or Centaurus....

Peter

[estwing]

Sagittarius or Cygnus

[Jim Steele]

Orion, and Taurus in the winter for me, cygnus in the summer..

Ok that's three but so much up there to choose from

[starman1969]

Tough choice really. Orion is such an interesting area, not just because it is a well defined constellation, but because of the sheer amount of stuff it has going on. Betelgeuse, arguably the most famous star after maybe Polaris. Rigel, one of the brightest stars in the sky. The belt stars, Flame & Horsehead Nebulas. The great Nebula, Barnard's Loop etc etc.....

Like many others, I choose Orion for winter and Cygnus for summer.

[laser_jock99]

Got to be Sagittarius for me to. So many objects to look at.

11 Messiers visible in this image alone.

[Beulah]

Saggitarius for me, as it is usually a symbol of darker skies and the ensuing observing season. It has so many magical deep space objects to study; such as M17 (try this one with and without an OIII filter - wow!!)....The Wild Duck Cluster M22 (Scutum) and M20.....

It also hints at the mysterious Southern Constellations which is a world yet unexplored.

In addition to all this, the Milky Way's arm trails towards that constellation, just to the right of Alnasl, the 'spout' part of the teapot asterism of Saggitarius, you are looking directly into the centre of our galaxy.

[Luke]

Tough one, I'll go Ursa Major as I have a better North view than South and old faithful is always there. Apart from most of the time when it is cloudy

[Floater]

Definitely Orion.

Fascinated as a boy when I was shown his 'belt' and 'sword' and have remained fascinated. Nothing more impressive than when, on a clear winter night, he dominates the sky - even in a light polluted area.

[Scott]

sag. or sco. for me. it's difficult to choose between the two but seeing as I'm living in the north I guess I'd have to go with leo...no, orion....no, cygnus...or maybe....?

[PhotoGav]

Enjoying all the answers. Makes me really want to head to the Southern Hemisphere soon. Imagine that, a whole new unexplored sweety shop!

[MAN or ASTROMAN]

Perseus . The 'Double Cluster' and Melotte20 are spectacular.

[Vox45]

Another vote for Orion

The belt is what got me into astronomy.

As a young lad, nobody around me had any knowledge about astronomy, so noone could tell me what were these 3 stars perfectly aligned in the winter sky... It took me years before I finally looked into it. When I did look, I became instantly hooked... so Orion has a big sentimental value to me

[ollypenrice]

Orion, Cygnus and Sagittarius come up with good reason. Although it lacks visual punch, Cepheus is absolutely oozing with delights for the imager.

What's amazng about Orion, though, is that as well as being a blast for the naked eye, binos or scope it also also really just one vast nebula in its own right when seen at photographic depth. Nature played a blinder in providing a visually invisible 'head' for the Hunter as if knowing that we humans would see a human there...

Olly

[JB80]

The Southern Cross.

Haven't seen it for years, I kind of really miss it.

[rory]

Sagittarius amazed me from a farmers field with a semi rural Sky . It's just such a shame it stays quite low to the horizon.

[reddoss]

As other imagers have previously posted, I would go for Orion in the winter, Cygnus in the summer and Cepheus all year round. They are a treasure trove of DSO emission and reflection nebulae.

[Moonshane]

Orion with naked eye and sag with my scope

[Dave Lloyd]

The whole Orion neighbourhood is interesting, So many bright stars. I'd like to see Argo Navis someday.

[cotterless45]

Cassiopeia, it's packed full of targets and melts into the Milky Way in dark skies,

Nick.