April 19, 2025: Watch Sirius, Orion, and Taurus disappear into the evening twilight on spring evenings. Farewell to Winter’s stars.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 6:04 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 7:36 p.m. CDT. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
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Farewell Sirius, Orion, and Taurus
The first wave of bright winter stars begins disappearing into evening twilight during the next month at the mid-northern latitudes.
Step outside an hour after sunset on the next clear evening and look westward. This year, the brightest star there is Jupiter. It is about one-third of the way from the horizon to overhead. It rambles eastward in Taurus toward the horns, Elnath and Zeta Tauri. Use a binocular to see the Pleiades star cluster to topaz Aldebaran’s lower right, the Bull’s brightest star.
Famous Orion, with Betelgeuse and Rigel, leans toward the western horizon.
Brilliant Sirius is low in the southwest, likely twinkling wildly. Through the binocular look at the changing hues as the atmosphere breaks starlight into its component colors.
Heliacal Setting
Each evening these stars that are prominently placed in the south during the early evenings of winters are lower in the sky. Rigel disappears into evening twilight about May 1st followed by Sirius around the 10th and Aldebaran a few nights later. Betelgeuse departs after mid-May.
Solar Conjunction
They seem to swing from the evening sky and into the predawn sky. While Aldebaran is only 5° south of the ecliptic, its conjunction date is May 31st. Rigel, over 30° south of the ecliptic, has the same celestial longitude as the sun on June 7th. Betelgeuse, about half of Rigel’s ecliptic distance, is at conjunction on June 20th, followed by Sirius on July 6th.
Heliacal Risings
They reappear in the eastern morning sky and the appearance cycle begins again until their annual disappearance next spring.
Aldebaran makes its first appearance or heliacal rising about June 25th; Betelgeuse, July 5th; Rigel, July 10th, and Sirius during mid-August.
The second wave of departures occurs later in the spring, including Procyon, Pollux, Castor, and Capella, which are higher in the west after sunset during April.
Look each clear night as Sirius, Orion, and Taurus appear lower in the sky, then disappear into the colors of evening twilight. Farewell Sirius, Orion, and Taurus!
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