What is the most visible constellation from where I live?

It's me and my girlfriend's anniversary on November 1st and I want to name a star after her and take her to an observatory to see it. The international star registry asks for a constellation to pick a star. We live in Southern California by the way|||Why not save the money and do it yourself? Plus there are far more interesting things to look at than just stars.





For romantic stuff, you have the "Heart and Soul" Nebula -


http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap031022.html





The video gamer, "Pacman Nebula" -


http://www.astrosurf.com/brego-sky/A_gli鈥?/a>





Then for the Sci-Fi film buff, the "ET Cluster" -


http://www.weatherandsky.com/main.php?g2鈥?/a>





And so much more -


http://heritage.stsci.edu/gallery/galler鈥?/a>|||The constellation Orion is by far the brightest and most prominent constellation. But, sorry, all of the bright stars in Orion are already named and the dim ones all have catalog numbers, which is what astronomers go by when referring to stars. The International Astronomical Union is the ONLY organization with legal authority to name stars and they DO NOT name them after people. The International Star Registry and similar companies are nothing more than novelties. The star they name after you would be so dim that it would not be visible to the naked eye and who is to say you are the first person to have 'bought' that star? They take your money and print you out a fancy certificate that is basically worthless. It will not be recognized by any organization other than the company that sold it to you.|||Sorry to have to tell you but this is a scam.





The international star registry put your name on a list that only they and you see, it has no legal standing at all.





The only people that have the power to name a star is the International Astronomical Union and they do not name them after girlfriends, only dead scientists.





We regularly get people coming to our astro club observatory to see the star they named after their dead Mum, the star they are given is so small or far away it cannot be seen in our most powerful telescope so to save them being upset we pick a star at random and say "that's it"





Buy her a bunch of flowers or a nice meal, at least you will get something for your money.





Sorry, Alan.