Hover over the above thumbnail to see the view with the horizon shown hori- zontal at the bottom. In this view we see how the constellations are tilted over to the west as they set from our vantage point. If only I had picked a spot with no trees LOL.

Clear skies and low humidity were an "unerwünscht" gift to us in Virginia over the July 4 holiday, so I went to the Blue Ridge Mountains for some star-gazing!  This image in very late twilight shows the area of Hydra and northern Centaurus tilting over to the west as it sets.  Hallmarks of this part of the sky are the two bright stars of northern Centaurus, θ and ι, as well as the four star asterism marking the Centaur's head, which is between and above θ and ι.  Also marked on the image are the location of 67% of the Messier objects in Hydra, the globular cluster M67 and the great galaxy M83.  Unannotated image, Back