# Winter Triangle: stars, where to look, when · Angel Step > The Winter Triangle is Sirius, Procyon and Betelgeuse. When it is up and where to look, month by month for 2026–2027 at 40° north, and a calculator. Canonical: https://angelstep.app/winter-triangle Language: en Updated: 2026-10-13 Whole site in one file: https://angelstep.app/llms-full.txt This file is the markdown twin of the page at the canonical address above: the same words, without markup. Cite the canonical address, not this file. --- The Winter Triangle: where and when to see it The Winter Triangle is Sirius in Canis Major (magnitude −1.5), Procyon in Canis Minor (0.4) and Betelgeuse in Orion (0.5). In October 2026 at 40° north it is a pre-dawn sight: all three stars are up in a dark sky from about 3:15 a.m. to 6:10 a.m., in the south. From November 19 it is up before midnight, and the last evening is around April 19, 2027, at 8:45 p.m. in the southwest. On January 15, 2027 it is up from 8:10 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. and highest at 11:05 p.m., in the south, 49° up. Below: when all three stars are up in a dark sky, month by month, and a calculator for any place, date and hour. Angel StepCute Pedometer, Daily StepsFree · In-App Purchases · iPhone Scan with your iPhone camera ### Is the Winter Triangle up tonight? Enter your latitude and longitude (west is negative), the time zone your clock is on that day, a date and an hour of that night. “Up” here means all three stars are at least 20° above the horizon while the sky is dark (the Sun more than 12° below the horizon). 8:10 p.m. to 1:50 a.m. when all three stars are up in a dark sky that night The date starts at today; without JavaScript, the example above is New York on January 15, 2027 at 9:00 p.m.. Directions are where to face; “up” is the height above the horizon. ### Month by month (40° north) Each row is the night of the 15th, at 40° north on the meridian of the Eastern time zone (75° west), by Eastern clock time with daylight saving time from March to early November. “Up” is when all three stars are at least 20° high in a dark sky; “highest” is when the middle of the triangle stands highest in that window. Times are to 5 minutes. Winter Triangle at 40° north: when all three stars are up in a dark sky, and when it is highest (15th of each month) | Month | Up | Highest | | Oct 2026 | 3:15 a.m.–6:10 a.m. | 6:10 a.m., south, 49° up | | Nov 2026 | 12:10 a.m.–5:40 a.m. | 3:05 a.m., south, 49° up | | Dec 2026 | 10:15 p.m.–4:00 a.m. | 1:10 a.m., south, 49° up | | Jan 2027 | 8:10 p.m.–2:00 a.m. | 11:05 p.m., south, 49° up | | Feb 2027 | 6:40 p.m.–11:55 p.m. | 9:05 p.m., south, 49° up | | Mar 2027 | 8:10 p.m.–11:05 p.m. | 8:15 p.m., south, 49° up | | Apr 2027 | 8:45 p.m.–9:05 p.m. | 8:45 p.m., southwest, 36° up | | May 2027 | not visible | not visible | | Jun 2027 | not visible | not visible | | Jul 2027 | not visible | not visible | | Aug 2027 | not visible | not visible | | Sep 2027 | 5:10 a.m.–5:40 a.m. | 5:40 a.m., southeast, 37° up | | Oct 2027 | 3:15 a.m.–6:10 a.m. | 6:10 a.m., south, 49° up | | Nov 2027 | 12:10 a.m.–5:40 a.m. | 3:05 a.m., south, 49° up | | Dec 2027 | 10:15 p.m.–4:00 a.m. | 1:10 a.m., south, 49° up | ### When is the Winter Triangle visible? At 40° north the Winter Triangle first appears before dawn around September 9, 2026, is up before midnight from November 19 and is last seen in the evening around April 19, 2027; it returns before dawn around September 9, 2027. From May to August it is not up in a dark sky at all. Farther north the season is shorter. In the table, “dawn from” is the first morning it is up before dawn, “evening from” the first night it is up before midnight. Winter Triangle season 2026–2027 by latitude, by the clock on the meridian of a time zone | Latitude | Dawn from | Evening from | Last evening | | 25° N | Aug 24 | Nov 6 | May 8, 2027 | | 30° N | Aug 28 | Nov 9 | May 3, 2027 | | 35° N | Sep 3 | Nov 13 | Apr 26, 2027 | | 40° N | Sep 9 | Nov 19 | Apr 19, 2027 | | 45° N | Sep 17 | Nov 27 | Apr 11, 2027 | | 50° N | Sep 27 | Dec 9 | Mar 31, 2027 | The table is for the meridian of a time zone (75° west for Eastern time). For each degree you are west of it, the same sky comes about 4 minutes later by the clock. ### Where to look through the night The triangle rises in the east, crosses the south and sets in the west. On January 15, 2027 at 40° north, look for the middle of the triangle southeast, 40° up, at 9:00 p.m.; south, 49° up, at 11:00 p.m.; and southwest, 41° up, at 1:00 a.m. It is highest at about 11:05 p.m., in the south (49° up). At 40° north it never passes overhead. ### The three stars Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky; Procyon and Betelgeuse are close to each other in brightness. The Winter Triangle is an asterism, a pattern of bright stars, not a constellation of its own. The three stars of the Winter Triangle, brightest first | Star | Constellation, magnitude | | Sirius | Canis Major, magnitude −1.5 | | Procyon | Canis Minor, magnitude 0.4 | | Betelgeuse | Orion, magnitude 0.5 | ### Where Angel Step fits Angel Step reads only your step count from Apple Health and shows it as one number on a living sky. It does not track stars; that is this page's job. A cold, clear evening is a good time for a walk: look south. ### Sources - Amateur Astronomers Association of New York — “The Winter Triangle”, the stars of the asterism. AAA - US Naval Observatory — celestial navigation data, used to check this page's star positions. USNO - Hipparcos new reduction (van Leeuwen 2007) and the Yale Bright Star Catalog — star positions and brightness. VizieR - IAU Working Group on Star Names — the names of the stars. IAU - National Astronomical Observatory of Japan — the names and abbreviations of the 88 constellations. NAOJ - 15 U.S.C. § 260a — daylight saving time, used for the clock times. Cornell LII Updated 13 October 2026 look south on a winter evening; a good hour for a walk. Angel Step reads only your steps from Apple Health and shows them as one number on a living sky.