Shapes in the Sky: Orion

Salutations celestial sight seers! I'm David Fuller with Eyes on the Sky. This video will describe how to locate and identify the constellation Orion in the night sky from the northern hemisphere. This can help you find and observe 10 of the telescopes on the sky objects listed in that catalog at eyesonthesky.com. Let's get familiar with the Orion the hunter is perhaps the most distinctive constellation in the entire night sky, so you might already know it. While containing many stars, the brightest seven are what most people recognize first. There are two bright stars that form shoulders, two more stars below that denote Orion's knees, and then three nearly equal brightness stars in practically a straight line that make his belt. And several of these stars are well known too. Betelgeuse is one of the shoulders and Rigel forms one of his knee stars. And both of these are the brightest stars in Orion at around zero magnitude. The other five stars are largely high second magnitude. Because Orion is located along the celestial equator, nearly everyone on earth can see Orion at some time in the year. For northern hemisphere observers in the evening, that is from late autumn through late spring. Now in late autumn, the hunter can be seen rising nearly due east for almost all observers because of its location close to the celestial equator. The difference is how high Orion rises by midwinter. For those at 45 degrees north, the belt stars are about 45 degrees above the southern horizon when this constellation is due south. But for those living further south, Orion is even higher. Those at 25 degrees north latitude will need to look for those belt stars 65 degrees over the southern horizon due to their more southerly location. Orion's bright stars and shape help point the way to many other bright winter stars and constellations. The belt stars point up and right to first magnitude Aldebaran in Taurus the bull, while going the opposite direction down and left brings the naked eye observer to the brightest star in the entire night sky, Sirius of the constellation Canis Major. Using Betelgeuse as an almost central point, an observer can follow these stars in a bright stars winter circlet each jump about 25 to 35 degrees apart beginning at Sirius over to Rigel in Orion then to Aldebaran in Taurus up to Capella in Auriga over to Castor and Pollux of Gemini and finally ending at Procyon of Canis Minor. Nearly all of these stars are first magnitude or brighter, Castor in Gemini as the lone exception. Late in the spring, the hunter and these constellations will be heading to the southwest. Similar to when it was rising, Orion's belt stars will set directly due west for all observers, but until then you will be higher for those further south and skim lower to the ground for observers further north. Yet, because the winter Milky Way is just to the left of Orion, there are deep sky objects here that remain visible into the early spring month too. I hope that helps you quickly and easily identify and find Orion in the night sky. You can download the free planetarium program, Stellarium, that I used to create the graphics in this video to learn more about the stars and what your sky looks like from your exact location. And if you want to find some of the best and easiest to find deep sky objects, visit the Telescopes on the Sky section of eyesonthesky.com. I'm David Fuller, wishing you clear and dark skies.