fwiw, Sarah, the Pleiades are definitely within the galaxy, extremely young by astronomical standards (“only” 100 million years) and close (“only” 390-460 light years). (Wikipedia, of course, fount of all knowledge, tells me so.) Maybe you were thinking of globular clusters, which orbit the galaxy but are not limited to the main disk where the vast majority of the stars are.
At least as important as the season and the latitude is the time of night. It is amazing to me to realize how few people have ever realized that *all* the stars (except circumpolar ones that never hit the horizon), sun, moon and planets, rise on the eastern horizon and about 12 hours later set on the western horizon, with a completely different set of stars etc. now rising in the east. “Winter” constellations are those that can be easily seen at their highest overhead during winter months about 9 pm, but they can also be seen in late summer, fall, and early spring as well, just at different times of the night or further west or east in the sky.
Sarah, I envy you your eyesight. I am *very* grateful for binoculars and telescopes (I once had a 16" Dobsonian reflector—eat your heart out) that let me see what otherwise I would be totally unable to.
At least as important as the season and the latitude is the time of night. It is amazing to me to realize how few people have ever realized that *all* the stars (except circumpolar ones that never hit the horizon), sun, moon and planets, rise on the eastern horizon and about 12 hours later set on the western horizon, with a completely different set of stars etc. now rising in the east. “Winter” constellations are those that can be easily seen at their highest overhead during winter months about 9 pm, but they can also be seen in late summer, fall, and early spring as well, just at different times of the night or further west or east in the sky.
Sarah, I envy you your eyesight. I am *very* grateful for binoculars and telescopes (I once had a 16" Dobsonian reflector—eat your heart out) that let me see what otherwise I would be totally unable to.