astronomey

[jimmonas]

i live by heathrow airport, can anyone tell me in which direction in the night sky i have to look to see the nearest star in the milky way, (and i don't mean our sun)

[Loosehead]

At your feet! It's visible with some aid from the sourthern hemisphere.

[jake-the-peg]

Yep the nearest stars are the alpha centaurii system in the southern hemisphere.

After that it's Barnard's star and a few others too faint to see with the naked eye.

The nearest one you can see by going out and looking around will be sirius at about 8.6 lights years and is the brightest star in the night sky


You can find it beneath Orion like this:

http://www.coldwater.k12.mi.us/lms/planetarium /guide/ori-guide.html

[heathfield]

Up.

[lugus]

And very slightly to the left.