THE CONSTELLATION ORION—
Most astronomy buffs agree Orion is the most handsome constellation in the sky. On winter evenings it dominates our celestial view; located high overhead to the south during prime viewing hours.
In the middle of the graphic at right the three stars of the constellation’s belt are shown and they are the easiest way to identify Orion. Any evening this month, face south and look around about 45 degrees above the horizon. (Southerly viewers will have to look a bit higher in their sky.)
From dark until hours after midnight Orion will journey slowly from east to west across your viewing area; a distance of 15 degrees every hour to be exact.
The brightest star in the constellation is Betelgeuse (say Beatle-Juice) Orion’s right shoulder. The second brightest is Rigel, his left foot. The fuzzy blob you see hanging below his belt is our hunter’s “knife” and contains the Orion nebulae.
By the way, while exploring this dandy sight, visually extend a line running through his belt’s three stars toward the southeast and you will soon come to the brightest star in our entire sky; Sirius. It’s in the neighboring constellation Canis Major.
Orion’s stars are part of the total of about 3,000 stars visible to the naked eye from Earth. All are located in our home, Milky Way Galaxy, but they vary widely in their relative distances from us. In fact, this star complex is over 1,000 light-years deep.
Most astronomy buffs agree Orion is the most handsome constellation in the sky. On winter evenings it dominates our celestial view; located high overhead to the south during prime viewing hours.
In the middle of the graphic at right the three stars of the constellation’s belt are shown and they are the easiest way to identify Orion. Any evening this month, face south and look around about 45 degrees above the horizon. (Southerly viewers will have to look a bit higher in their sky.)
From dark until hours after midnight Orion will journey slowly from east to west across your viewing area; a distance of 15 degrees every hour to be exact.
The brightest star in the constellation is Betelgeuse (say Beatle-Juice) Orion’s right shoulder. The second brightest is Rigel, his left foot. The fuzzy blob you see hanging below his belt is our hunter’s “knife” and contains the Orion nebulae.
By the way, while exploring this dandy sight, visually extend a line running through his belt’s three stars toward the southeast and you will soon come to the brightest star in our entire sky; Sirius. It’s in the neighboring constellation Canis Major.
Orion’s stars are part of the total of about 3,000 stars visible to the naked eye from Earth. All are located in our home, Milky Way Galaxy, but they vary widely in their relative distances from us. In fact, this star complex is over 1,000 light-years deep.
But, such mind-staggering concepts of distance should not trouble your enjoyment of this celestial delight.
1 comment:
More interesting astronomy:
Back in December, a photographer made a time lapse photo of the shuttle launch. Orion is prominent in the photo.
Also, north and west of Orion, directly overhead, the Pleiades Star Cluster is prominent. This cluster is quite close to the earth.
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