What is the brightest star in the winter sky found by following Orion's belt?
359166
with an apparent magnitude of -1.4, Sirius (or Alpha Canis Major) is the brightest star not only in the winter sky, but in all of the sky.  it can be found by following Orion's belt down and to the left.  if you go up and to the right along Orion's belt, you encounter Aldebaran, the brightest star in Taurus the Bull.\n\nSirius is about 8 light years away, and is a triple body system.  There is Sirius, the A0 star that is quite visible, a white dwarf (visible only in very large telescopes), and another dark, dead companion whose effects are only visible by how its gravity affects Sirius and the white dwarf.
735570
sounds like it could have been sirius, in the constellation canis major. this is the brightest star in the northern hemisphere.
663943
north star is actually a pole star which is situates on the axis of the pole and it is the only star which does not moves and remains fixed in its position. in ancient times the people use to locate the direction by seeing the pole star as it is located in north. it was used by sailors tooo
480373
stars, planets, comets, meteors
511503
yes,A star in a cluster near the center of our Milky Way galaxy may be the largest and brightest ever found. Called LBV 1806-20, its five to 40 million times brighter than the Sun, at least 150 times as massive, and about 200 times wider.So i think it'd suit the query.
870628
Midnight 'till about 2a ET.  Find a spot where there are no lights in your eyes and stare at the sky.  I hope you see some shooting stars.  Make a wish if you do...
243085
I was gonna look up tonight, but I forgot which way up is again :)\n\nSeriously though folks....Orion is a cool constellation for sure. If you've got a fairly high-powered set of binoculars you can get a neat view of the Orion Nebula (M42). Sweep the binoculars slowly in the area below the three belt stars and you should pick it out.\n\nAlso, the red giant star Betelgeuse is in Orion. It's the bright, orangeish star. It's 520 light years away, with a diameter between 480-800 million miles. If Betelgeuse was where our Sun is, its outer layers would extend out to the orbit of Mars. It's also a prime candidate to become a supernova!\n\nGod is spelled B-I-G B-A-N-G\nPBrax@netscape.com
903500
Aurora Borialis \n\nI'm not sure if it's spelled right, but you see it best in the winter and only at night.\n\nSue
368955
Alpha Centauri is the brightest star system (a triple star system) in the southern constellation of Centaurus, and contains the fourth brightest star in the night sky. It is the closet star system beyond our own at a distance of anywhere between 4.2 and 4.4 light years.
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Stars close to the celestial equator will be visible for most of both of the northern and southern hemispheres. If you were actually at the two poles, the only stars in common would be those exactly at the celestial equator.\n\nFor example, the belt of the constellation of Orion is very close to the celestial equator, so is visible almost eveywhere on earth (at the correct time of year, that is).
942069
Anywhere that is dark and has an unobstructed view of the eastern sky.  Look toward the constellation Leo.
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If you are in the Northern Hemisphere and it is clear out you can use the big dipper to find the North Star (off the outside of the "cup").  If you are in the southern Hemisphere I believe you can use the Southern Cross similarly (points north south).\n\nIf it is near sunrise or sunset and you know roughly what lattitude you are at and what season it is you can get a rought idea of East or West and therefore North and South (for instance if you face West, north is to your right).\n\nObviously if you have GPS or a compass that makes all this much easier (assuming your compass is lit ;) ).\n\nIf it is very clear out you can probably see the Milky Way, and the galactic plane runs roughly North South.\n\nIf you are familar with the night sky and know what time of year it is you could get a rough idea of your lattitude and maybe longitude, and, even if you can't find the North Star or Southern Cross you could find planets and the orbital plane or a familar constallation and figure out the directions.\n\nRealistically if I didn't know where I was I would either go towards light if there was a bright part of the sky (city) or find a creek and fallow it since even if it is dried up, it is likely that it will lead you to a settled area or road and hopefully would have more shade from bushes and more food and water.
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Polaris is the North Star and is located in the handle of what we know is Ursa Minor or little dipper. It is found by locating the two stars at the end of the bowl of the big dipper and starting at the bottom of the bowl and going upward about 5 times the distance and you will see it. It is a faint star compared to most others but once found is always noticable. With a simple string and protractor you can find your latitude. Just meadure the distace from flat horizon to the pole star, that will be the same as your latitude.  If you take a still picture of the polar region, you will see star trails. (because the stars seem to rotate above us) If your camera is set to the north celestial pole, even Polaris will form a circle.  It was a true pole star in 1950ish. But due to precession and earth wobble it seems to be changing.
874262
Yep, Orion was a hunter for the Greeks.  It's also similar to Osiris, who was an Egyptian god.  It's the brightest constellation in the sky, and looks the most like a person, so a lot of cultures associated it with their own gods.
342880
Greetings,\n\nYou should still be able to see Orion, but you may have to content with less than dark skies.\n\nGo out as soon as you begin to see stars and look south and between 45 degrees and 90 degrees up.  Find the three belt stars and go from there.\n\nTo determine how far up is 45 degrees:\n\nHold your fist at arms length towards the sky.  The amount of sky your fist covers is about 10 degrees, regardless of the length of your arm or size of your fist.\n\nFollow this link to the Sky and Telescope magazine website and you can plug in your city name, etc.  A customized interactive star chart will help guide you.\n\nhttp://skyandtelescope.com/observing/skychart/article_1220_1.asp#\n\n-matt
766822
The North Star (Polaris) is at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. The two stars at the end of the Big Dipper's bowl point to it.\n\nMost of the other stars of the Little Dipper are fairly dim, so you could have trouble making it out unless you're well away from urban light pollution. Polaris itself is almost as bright as the brightest stars in the Big Dipper, and should be easy to see. So you're probably just not looking in the right place.
364804
The brightest stars still carry the names they were given to them by (mainly) Arabic astronomers (Aldeberan, Altair, etc).    Many of the other brighter stars are given greek or number representations within the constellation.  Alpha-Centari is the brightest (alpha = 1st letter) in the constellation centarus.  This goes all the way out through numbers like the famous star 51-Peg (the 51st brightest star in Pegasus).\n\nThese days most stars just carry a catologue number, or a particular set of coordinates on the sky, so that anyone can find the star you are talking about.  No star has been given a proper "name" in many centuries.