Thursday, March 25, 2010

Orion Constellation

It will soon be time to say goodbye to Orion for another season, so I thought I'd share a bit about him.

Orion consists of seven stars, Betelgeuse (bright redish star in the top left corner), Rigel (bright blueish star on his left hip), Bellatrix, Mintaka, Alnilam, Alnitak, and Saiph. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, we can only see Orion in the winter months. It is probably most recognizable because of his belt, the three stars arranged in a straight line.


They story of Orion is that he was a great hunter, who had fallen in love with the Goddess Artemis. Artemis' brother Apollo considered this relationship inappropriate and created a giant scorpion. This scorpions armour was so strong that Orion couldn't pierce it and he was in turn stung by the scorpion and killed. Artemis was so devastated by the loss of her lover that she had him imortilized in the stars. After Apollo heard this he sent the scorpion to the stars to chase Orion for eternity.

Hopefully the sky is clear tonight so you can take a look.