Finding Constellations from Orion

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Finding Constellations From Orion Orion, the Hunter, is probably the most easily recognized constellation of winter and spring (or at least his belt is). But by using his belt and the other stars, you can locate several other constellations as well. Capella Pleiades AURIGA Castor Hyades El Nath TAURUS Pollux GEMINI Aldebaran CANIS MINOR Bellatrix ORION Betelgeuse 2 1 Procyon 3 Rigel MONOCEROS Sirius LEPUS CANIS MAJOR If you’re interested, the stars of Orion’s Belt do have names. They are, respectively: 1) Alnitak, 2) Alnilam, and 3) Mintaka. The bright star at his shoulder is Betelgeuse (BAY-tul-joos), the 11th brightest star in the sky, and the bright star at his foot is Rigel (RYE-jel), the 7th brightest star. And the Greeks weren’t the first ones to see a man’s image there — a drawing of the stars of Orion were found on a piece of mastadon tusk in Germany, dating back 32,500 years. 2003, Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site Following the stars of Orion’s Belt backwards (from 3 to 1) points us to Sirius (SEER-e-us), the Dog Star. This is the brightest star in the sky, and is part of the constellation Canis Major, the Great Dog. Drawing a line from Bellatrix (bell-LAY-triks) through Betelgeuse points us to Procyon (PRO-sy-on), the 8th brightest star in the sky and part of Canis Minor, the Small Dog. The two dogs are Orion’s hunting companions. Betelgeuse, Sirius, and Procyon make up the Winter Triangle. Hanging down from Orion’s belt is his sword, a combination of stars and the Orion Nebula (M42 and M43 to astronomers). A nebula is a cloud of interstellar gas which has no light of it’s own, but can be stten when stars illuminate it. Following the direction it’s pointing takes you to a faint constellation known as Lepus (LEE-pus), the Hare. This may be what the Great Dog is chasing. Drawing a line from the small group of stars making up Orion’s head through Betelgeuse takes us to another faint constellation, Monoceros (mon-no-SARE-us), the Unicorn. This straddles the Milky Way between the two Star Dogs. A line from Betelgeuse through the upraised arm of Orion leads you to Castor (KAS-ter), one of the twins of Gemini. Pollux (PALL-uks), the other twin and the 17th brightest star, lies nearby. Going from star 1 of the belt through Orion’s head leads to El Nath, a star that is actually part of two constellations. As part of a rough hexagon, it belongs to Auriga (ah-RY-guh), the Charioteer. The brightest star of Auriga is Capella (ka-PELL-uh), the 6th brightest star in the sky. The second constellation that El Nath belongs to is Taurus (TOR-us), the Bull. Taurus is easily located by following a line from Betelgeuse through Orion’s head. This takes you to the eye of the Bull, Aldebaran (al-DEB-a-ron), the 14th brightest star. The Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of bout 200 stars, make up the face of the bull and El Nath and another star make up the ends of the horns. Continuing on the same line that leads to Aldebaran leads to the Pleiades, known as the Seven Sisters for the seven stars visible to the naked eye. It is actually part of a cluster of 250 stars located 450 light years away. Finding Constellations from Orion, Page 2 2003, Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site .

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