kite

[Johnny81]

May I ask where in the world are you viewing this?

[accipter]

Hertfordshire.

[Johnny81]

Cant be the Southern cross then it is only visible in the Southern hemisphere. Christmas time looking South you will be seeing Orion, lepus, Auriga, Canis major and a few more in this vicinity.

[accipter]

maybe it was not christmas I may have my dates mixed up but I know it always seems to be in the winter.

[Johnny81]

Constellations like Orion dominate the winter sky and you can see the brightest of all stars Sirius in Canis major in this area too, I think you maybe looking at these constellations, try google winter star maps and see what you find. You say quite high up this could be in the vicinity of Taurus or Auriga.

[accipter]

I am more and more confused I think I will have to wait until I see it again and count the stars making up the formation of the shape can you suggest what I should look for' I would really like to know as it hold a sentimental association for me , thank you very much for your time and like I say I will report back.

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by accipter

I am more and more confused I think I will have to wait until I see it again and count the stars making up the formation of the shape can you suggest what I should look for

You don't need to wait. Download the free 'Stellarium'. Run it and put in your latitude, the date you can see the constellation, and pan the image in the direction you usually see the 'cross'. It's a pretty nifty program and you can run it in real time to see what constellations and planets are currently in view. Get it here:

Stellarium

Jim

[accipter]

I wish I was that smart Jim but I no nothing about the stars and I only switched a pc on for the first time a few weeks a go, thank you anyway.

[nytecam]

Originally Posted by accipter

I wish I was that smart Jim but I no nothing about the stars and I only switched a pc on for the first time a few weeks a go, thank you anyway.

The appearance of the sky is constantly changing and the so-called link-lines joining known constellations are reasonably fixed but may not co-incide with 'your kite constellation'.

If there's any hope of identifying 'your constellation' [it hasn't worked so far] you must provide date/ time/ location/ bearing [compass point] and altitude [horizon = 0 deg/ zenith = 90deg] in sky for us to guess

The only kite-like 'constellation' I can think of is the huge 'summer triangle' of the three bright stars Deneb, Vega and Altair - to first two stars are overhead at dusk with Altair ' below' but its not a constellation and it's not winter!

BTW - the bright planet. I think you see, in the early evening low down in the east/SE is Jupiter.

[Acipiter]

At last, I found the answer, its in Orion.