You can’t help but be wowed by all of the bright winter constellations adorning Everett’s southeastern sky.

Orion and his gang of winter star patterns are in firm control of the evening sky, and I will write more about them in the coming weeks.

I have a little unfinished business concerning one of the autumn constellations still hanging high in the western sky, however. The constellation Aries is a small and not-all-that impressive specimen of the 66 or so constellations that can be seen in our skies, but I’ve always had a soft celestial spot in my heart for the diminutive ram.

Locating Aries is a bit of a challenge, but it helps that it’s very high in the sky. Around 7 to 8 p.m., stand so that you’re facing south and crank your eyes almost up to the overhead zenith.

You’ll see a bunch of bright stars in a tight little cluster that somewhat resembles a tiny Big Dipper. That’s the famous Pleiades star cluster, a family of very young stars situated more than 2,300 trillion miles away from Earth. About 20 degrees (two fist-widths at arm’s length) to the right of the Pleiades, you’ll find Aries.

This constellation is actually made up of two moderately bright stars and a dim star that looks like the horn of a ram. The two brighter stars are Hamel and Sheratan; the dimmer star off to the lower right is Mesarthim. Hamel is a giant star in our Milky Way galaxy, more than 850 trillion miles, or 66 light-years, away from Earth. It’s 37 times larger than our own sun and more than 426 times as bright.

Even though Aries is a tiny in size, it has a big story. Aries used to be the backdrop constellation that the sun was in when it crossed into the northern sky. This happened on the first day of spring around March 21, called the vernal equinox. Because of the wobble in the Earth’s axis, Aries is no longer in the background during the equinox. It’s been replaced by the constellation Pisces (the fish).

The Greek mythological story of Aries the ram is a sweet one, although bittersweet. Two children, Phrixus and Helle, were threatened by their evil stepmother, who wanted the way clear for her own kids to take over the kingdom of Croneus.

Their real mother sent a golden-fleeced ram to rescue Phrixus and Helle, and taking them on his back, he flew away. It was a long journey, and Helle grew tired, losing her grip and falling into the strait between Europe and Asia. The body of water thus became known as the Hellespont, or sea of Helle. The boy, Phrixus, made it to safety.

To honor the ram’s bravery, Aries was placed among the stars.

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and author of the book, “Washington Starwatch,” available at bookstores and at his Web site, www.lynchandthestars.com.

The Everett Astronomical Society welcomes new members and puts on public star parties. The Web site is members.tripod.com/everett_astronomy.