ORION ANTHONY PITTMAN, 1 ST

NAME  Orion  Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak, which form Orion’s belt, are the most prominent stars in the Orion constellation. Betelgeuse, the second brightest star in Orion, establishes the right shoulder of the hunter. Bellatrix serves as Orion's left shoulder.

LOCATION  Right Ascension: 5 hours and Declination: 5 degrees  Orion is occupying an area of 594 square degrees. It is located in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ1) and can be seen at latitudes between +85° and -75°.  Orion is the 26th constellation in size.  The neighboring constellations are Eridanus, Gemini, Lepus, Monoceros and Taurus.

VISIBLE  Orion is clearly visible in the night sky from November to February. Orion is in the southwest sky if you are in the Northern Hemisphere or the northwestern sky if you are in the Southern Hemisphere.  Orion straddles the celestial equator. Betelgeuse is about 7° north, and Rigel is about 8° south. So, to cut to the chase and come out and say there's no place on earth from which all of Orion can appear to be above the horizon continuously for 24 hours, i.e. it's not circumpolar.  The three brightest stars in Orion are: Rigel-Right ascension: 5 hours 14 minute 32.3 seconds, Declination: -8 degrees 12 minutes 6 seconds Betelgeuse: Bellatrix  One which is Ridel

GREEK/ROMA N MYTHOLOGY  Orion, the hunter of Taurus the bull, and Lepus the hare. Followed faithfully by his companions Canis Major, and Canis Minor, he is the dominator of the northern sky. Madly in love with the daughter of King Oenopion of Chios, Metrope, Orion was consistantly denied marriage to her. His love for her raged, and while in a drunken stupor, raped Metrope. Oenopion consulted Dionysis, and found revenge. Dionysis casted Orion into a deep sleep, and plagued him with blindness. Upon awakening Orion sought the help of an Oracle. It told him that to gain his sight back, he would need to travel east, and let the rays of the sun strike his eyes. Orion did this, regained his sight, and later lived in Crete, where the goddess of the moon Artemis fell in love with him. Her love for him was so strong, that she failed to light the evening sky with moonlight. Orion's death came about when Apollo challenged Artemis to hit a speck among the waters of the ocean, not knowing that this speck was Orion swimming. Artemis shot a single arrow killing him. In response to her actions, Artemis placed Orion, along with his companions Canis Major, and Canis Minor in the sky, near the seven daughters of Oenopion, the Pleiades. Here they remained as the mightiest hunters of the night sky.

OTHER MYTHS  They have said that Orion was actually used as a ancient code-The whole city of Teotihuacán seems to be aligned astronomically. It is consistently oriented 15 to 25 degrees east of true north, and the front wall of the Pyramid of the Sun is exactly perpendicular to the point on the horizon where the sun sets on the equinoxes. The rest of the ceremonial buildings were laid out at right angles to the Pyramid of the Sun. The Avenue of the Dead points at the setting of the Pleiades. Another alignment is to the dog star Sirius, sacred to the ancient Egyptians, which has led some to suggest a link between the great pyramids of Egypt and Mexico. Orion, more than a constellation, s global phenomena.

ANY OTHER INTERESTING OR UNUSUAL FACTS ABOUT YOUR CONSTELLATION  Orion’s constellation is made up of all of the seven main stars in Orion, with the exception of the red super giant Betelgeuse (429 ly), are young blue supergiants. These include Rigel (777 ly) Bellatrix (243 ly ), Saiph (724 ly), Alnitak (826 ly), Alnilam (1360 ly) and Mintaka (919 ly).  Orion contains 2 of the 10 brightest stars in the night sky. The constellation of Orion’s brightest star is Rigel, which shines 40,000 times brighter than our sun, and represents the hunter’s left knee. Next brightest is Betelgeuse, which is 100,000 times brighter than our sun, and depicts the top right shoulder of Orion.  Orion’s sword-Below his belt you can see a curved line of 3 stars, which represent the giant’s sword. The middle star is, in actual fact, not a star but a nebula. The Orion Nebula (M42) is a huge cloud of dust and gas almost 6 light years across inside which new stars are being formed. It is 1,500 light years distant and at the center of the nebula are four stars, known as “The Trapezium” which help light it up. Orion.nebula

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