Interesting Facts About The Constellation Orion

 

Greetings fellow night sky fans!

Tonight I thought I'd share something pretty interesting tidbits about the Constellation Orion for y'all.

Named by Western cultures for the hunter in Greek mythology, Orion is probably the most prominent constellation easily recognizable in our sky dome. In the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is most visible in the evening sky from January to March during the winter months. It lies on the celestial equator and is one of the brightest and best known constellations in the night sky. 

Orion is largely made up of eight prominent stars.

The  B-type blue super giant star, Rigel (Beta Orionis) and the red giant star Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis) are the two brightest stars of the constellation respectively. Rigel is the sixth-brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth. Rigel’s distance is estimated to be around 773 light-years, while the distance to Betelgeuse is estimated to be about 724 light-years away.

The this constellation's most distinctive feature are the three stars that make up the Orion's Belt asterism: Alnitak (Zeta Orionis), Alnilam (Epsilon Orionis), and Mintaka (Delta Orionis). The names of the three stars come from Arabic word Alnilam which means "string of pearls" Looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate Orion.

The other prominent stars that make up Orion are: Bellatrix (Gamma Orionis), Saiph (Kappa Orionis), and Meissa  (Lambda Orionis).

Eight major stars make up the Constellation Orion The Hunter.
The largest of these is Rigel, followed by Betelgeuse, Saiph, Bellatrix, Meissa, and the three stars:
Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka that make up the "Orion's Belt" asterism.

 

In Greek mythology and astrology, Orion the hunter is accompanied by his hunting dogs: the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor, and is hunting Taurus the Bull.

One can easily find the major stars of each of these three constellation by using Orion as a starting point.

Using Orion's Belt as a straight line an amateur stargazer can easily locate the "dog star" Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky as seen from Earth, to the bottom left.

Going the opposite way, using the upper part of Orion's Belt one can make a line to Aldebaran, the "Eye of the Bull" and the brightest star in the constellation Taurus.

Finally using Betelgeuse as a starting point one can make a straight line to the star Procyon, the brighter of the two stars that make up the "lesser dog" Canis Minor.

Picture here with the Constellation Orion are Taurus The Bull and the two dogs Canis Major
and Canis Minor.
Using a straight line with Orion's Belt as a starting point, finding the bright stars Sirius and Aldebaran are easy.
Procyon can be found using a straight line from Betelgeuse on Orion's left shoulder.

Betelgeuse, along with the stars Procyon and Sirius, also make up the Winter Triangle asterism. These three stars are three of the ten brightest objects, as viewed from Earth, outside the Solar System.

In addition, Orion itself is also a part of and largely surrounded by an even larger asterism, the Winter Circle (or Winter Hexagon) with Orion's brightest star, Rigel, making up one of its six major stars.
 

The major stars of the Winter Triangle and Winter Circle (Winter Hexagon) as seen in the night sky
with the constellation Orion in the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.

 

The constellation contains several interesting nebulae: the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), De Mairan’s Nebula (Messier 43), the NGC 2068 Nebula (Messier 78), and the famous Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) among others. In addition seven stars in the constellation Orion possess planetary bodies.

In the winter months one can find Orion by looking to the east an hour after sunset. The easiest way to spot it is to find Orion's Belt.

Well folks, I hope y'all enjoyed this presentation. Let me know in the comments section below.