Date : Monday, March 26, 2007
Time : 8:01 AM
Title : Orion Constellation

Orion, a mighty hunter from Greek mythology. In one version, Artemis, the goddess of hunt and the moon fell in love with him. She was so entranced by him, she forgot her divinely duty of illuminating the night sky. Her twin brother Apollo, seeing Orion swimming in the sea, dared his sister to strike what only appeared to be a spot on the waves. Not knowing it was Orion, Artemis shot an arrow and killed him. Later, when she found out what she did, she placed his body among the stars. The grief she felt explains why the moon looks so sad at night.


For most observers Orion is the most impressive constellation of the sky, no doubt. With its large number of bright stars and the distinct group given by the three belt stars it is easy to find in the winter sky (see lines). In mid-january Orion culminates at about 22 h local time. Observers located at the terrestrial equator can see the constellation marching through the zenith; the belt stars are at a declination of about 0 degrees. Orion's position is also close to the galactic equator, you already can see dense star fields in the upper left corner.

Orion offers a wealth of interesting and famous objects like the great Orion Nebula (M 42/43) and the Horsehead Nebula (IC 434). The brightest star is Rigel (Beta Orionis), visible in the lower right. Against the convention, that greek letters are given in order of intensity, the second bright star Beteigeuze is named Alpha Orionis (Orions left 'shoulder').

For those who aren't into star constellations, you may not understand this however, from my personal experience, I have seen the Belt of Orion (right beside IC 434) 3-4 times in mid-january 2007. It's the 3 blue stars you see there. They were as if alligned in a single perfect line. Rarely do you get to see these things, glad I saw it. (If you wanna compare the two pictures to find the distinct stars at various similar points on Orion, rotate the star constellation picture upside-down and compare)