Have you ever seen a Unicorn?

Finding a Unicorn on Earth is clearly impossible, so where could you go and look for one. Well if you know where to look there is one in the sky. In the winter months you can try to find Monoceros the Unicorn

If you can find Orion which is formed by a splendid looking large rectangle of bright stars in the winter sky which then surround the three stars that form Orion’s Belt.

A line drawn from the belts tars downward and to the left will take you to Sirius the Dog Star, the brightest star in the sky.

If you go back to Orion and draw a line from Betelgeuse which is the top left star of the rectangle and draw a line to the left you will reach Procyon the small dog star.

Now draw a line from Betelgeuse to Procyon to Sirius and back to Betelgeuse. You will have formed a triangle of three stars. The winter triangle.

Although it looks to be empty of stars if you look very carefully on a clear dark night you will see lots of faint stars. You have just found a Unicorn .

There are 88 constellations in the sky Of these 48 are classed as classical and go back to the times of the ancient Greeks and they have myths and legends attached to them. The other 40 constellations are classed as modern. This is because they were invented during the 1600s and 1700s.

The Unicorn or Monoceros to give its Latin name was invented by the Dutch map maker Petrus Plancius in 1612.

The next time there is a clear night during the rest of February or March have a look at the night sky, find the winter triangle and see if you can spot a Unicorn.