The constellation of Orion imaged on the evening of 12 March 2012 with the main stars labelled. Image and copyright Nick Lomb ©, all rights reserved
There is a lot to see in the evening sky this March 2012. The Moon is out of the way until near the end of the month and the two brightest planets Venus and Jupiter are close together in the north-west. On the other side of the sky Mars is still bright in the east after its recent opposition. The planets are augmented by the International Space Station making bright evening passes and there are occasional bright flashes from Iridium satellites.
Among all this activity it is also worth looking at some old favourites such as the constellation of Orion that is prominent high in the western sky. Orion is one of the easiest constellations to recognise with four bright stars in a rectangle and three stars in a row in the middle. In Australia many people refer to part of the constellation as the Saucepan – the three stars of the belt form the base and the dagger with the Great Nebula of Orion in the middle represent the handle.
The international GLOBE at night project wants people to observe one of two or three constellations in the evening sky to report on the brightness of their sky. Orion is one of the two southern hemisphere constellations available for this purpose. There are two opportunities left this year to contribute, until 22 March 2012 and 11 to 20 April 2012. Contributing an observation is easy to do and there is a cool webapp so that observations can be submitted in real-time.
The brightest star in the constellation is the blue supergiant Rigel that represents the left foot of the giant Orion according to Greek mythology. Strangely, the star is named Beta Orionis even though it is the brightest star. It is at a distance of 860 light years from us and radiates 85 000 times as much energy as our Sun. There is a faint companion that is itself double and is so far from the main star that it takes over 20 000 years to make one circuit.
The Alpha star in the constellation and the second brightest star is the huge red supergiant Betelgeuse. It is so huge that if it replaced the Sun it would engulf all the four inner planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. It is at a distance of about 570 light years and radiates 85 000 times as much energy as our Sun.
Another one of the four stars forming the outer rectangle of Orion is Saiph. This star is a blue supergiant like Rigel, but even hotter. This high temperature means that more of its energy is radiated as ultraviolet and so it appears fainter than Rigel to our eyes.
The fourth of the stars forming Orion’s rectangle is Bellatrix. This is again a hot blue star that at a distance of 240 light year is closer to us than most of the other stars in Orion.
Finally, let’s mention Meissa that according to the old mythological drawings is the head of the giant Orion. This is a double star with one component being a rare O-class star with the extreme temperature of about 35 000 Kelvin while its companion is a little cooler 27 000 Kelvin. (The Kelvin temperature scale used by astronomers is the same as the ordinary Celsius scale, but with 273 added so that the freezing point of water is at 273 K.)
So on these dark autumn evenings once you had your fill of the bright planets and satellites, have a look at the giant Orion and then maybe report what you see to Globe at Night.
Reference: Stars by Jim Kaler
Hallo ich habe eine Frage Gibt es einen Orion Beta 3 oder Orion 3 Beta oder ähnlich u wo befindet er sich danke Torsten
Torsten, There is no star I know of labelled Orion Beta 3, or similar. There is a Beta Orionis, also called Rigel, which has companion stars but they are named according to the standard multiple-star convention, ie Rigel Ba, Rigel Bb, etc.
Orion’s belt represents many cultural stories all involving the seven sisters or the plaideans.. these are the Greek and Australia indigenous stories.. the plaideans are also mentioned in the Bible in reference to this constellation
I see a metal coffee pot that you put on the stove top.
Rigel – being the handle on the lid.
Cursa – being the spout.
Great Nebula – being the handle of the pot.
Eta Ori – being the left hand side of the pots body.
Sigma Ori – being the right hand sidAle of the pots body.
Mintaka – furthest left on the base of the pot.
Alnilam – middle of pot base.
Alnitek – furthest right on the base of pot.
So I call it the Coffee Pot.
IN ORION I CAN SEE A SKULL FACING LEFT
CURSA AND RIGEL ARE THE EYES
ETA ORI IS THE NOSE
THE BELT IS THREE TEETH
AND THE NEBULA IS THE UPPER JAW OR CHEEKBONE
With the revolution of the earth at 1000 mph at the equator, the earth revolving around the sun at 67 000 mph and the sun travelling through the Universe at some 45 000 mph, how is it that Polaris never moves from over the North Pole and the Southern Cross will always indicate due south with a bit of calculation?
Malcolm, Yes, Polaris always appears to be stationary (more or less) and Crux always points towards the South Celestial Pole (again more or less). The distance to Polaris is uncertain, but let’s call it 400 light years. That is about 400 x 10,000,000,000,000 km or about 400 x 6,000,000,000,000 miles. These numbers so completely eclipse the distance that the Earth & Sun move that you will see no movement of Polaris or Crux (by eye) in several lifetimes. However, the tiny movements of the stars across the sky (their proper motion) are detectable with the correct equipment (telescopes and spacecraft). And then there is precession, a “wobble” of Earth’s axis which eventually will carry Polaris far from the celestial pole.
In my culture ( Boandik/Moandik group of SE SA ) the 3 bright stars are 3 brothers who broke Boandik Law
des, Can you tell us more about the brothers and how they broke the law?
They visited with my people , and when they left they took 3 young women with them – under traditional law brides were exchanged to keep a balanced society
since they broke traditional law they were killed
Hi my name is Marianne. While I was traveling in a plane on my way home from Hong Kong to Adelaide in the early hours of the 10th October 2016 I saw an amazing sight of stars. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing through my window. I noticed 3 very bright stars in a row but many more stars that looked to be in a dome of stars. I did some googling and maybe I saw the celestial sphere ( dome of stars ) and for sure I saw Orion’s Belt. I’m sure at that time I was flying near the equator. I would love to know more about what I saw, if it is rare to see and if I might ever see that again. Regards Marianne.
Marianne, the three stars probably were Orion’s belt. The celestial sphere is the whole (imaginary) sphere on which all the stars can be imagined to be placed. We see this apparent dome from anywhere. Maybe you were looking at the arc of stars at the end of Orion’s arm – they represent a shield or the pelt of a lion, but look more like a bow to me! The sight of Orion in the east is not rare and is available any spring evening around midnight.
Hi and thank you for the article above.
Since I was a teenager (I’m 72 now), I’ve always looked to the skies at night, hoping to find my favourite group of stars. Looking up at what I now know to be the Orion Belt cluster, I saw a bull’s head. To me, it’s always been ‘The Bull’.
The three most distinguishable stars are the 3 stars in a row, which are the bull’s snout (or nose). Rigel was the top part of the bull’s neck and Cursa was the bottom part. The Great Nebula were the eyes and Saiph was the tip of the horn/s.
Betelgeuse was just a weird movie to me (and I paid little attention to that star in the heavens below my bull’s head). Bellatrix may well have come from the comic strip of Asterix, which also never entered the realm of my vision when looking up at ‘my bull’.
I always knew that what I was looking upon in the night sky had to be something special and to just find out now (sorry… I never bothered to check things out until now), I’m pleased that at last I know its name and what it means to the stargazers here on earth.
Thank you again for this great article.
Warm regards,
Frank.
Frank, Thank you for your post. With your description I can also see your Bull in profile, particularly when Orion is low in the western sky. In fact it looks much better than Taurus, the ‘official’ Bull. It is a reminder that the constellations we use today are simply the set that astronomers agreed to use in the 1930s, that there are many other interpretations and that you are, of course, free to make up your own patterns if you wish!
I always called it the fry pan!! Not knowing it was called Orion until today
Me and my Family were outside looking through my telescope and then I saw the saucepan. I recognised it straight away because I learnt about it at school last year. I did some more reasearch as soon as I saw it and found out it was connected Orion.
Me and my dad were outside looking through my telescope and I then saw the constellation of the saucepan. I recognised it straight away because I learnt it at school last year.
thanks! my father introduced me to the “saucepan” years ago, lying on the front lawn and gazing at stars 🙂
Hello, I would like to subscribe for this webpage
to get latest updates, so where can i do it please help out.
Hi, One way is to Follow @sydneyobs on twitter. That way you get the link to the daily cosmobite blog every day.
Is there a star called the Northern Star? It was the name of my Stallion and I have called his son Orion’s Reflection which is why I was looking up the constellation of Orion.
Hello Bronwyn. There is a star called the Northern Star, but it is not visible from Australia. Also known as Polaris, it is the star about which all stars in the northern hemisphere sky appear to circle. Orion’s reflection is a nice name; in the constellation of Orion there are a number of what are called “reflection nebulae” such as the beautiful Messier 78.
LOL
Hello D. In Greek mythology Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and Orion was her hunting companion. According to one version of the story she was in love with Orion, but killed him accidentally.
I live in Spain and my son has just last week arrived in Perth, He learnt from me the beauty of the nite sky, and when he told me he could see Orion I doubted him, he said its upside down and I really thought he has really lost it, well now I know different, Well impressed with this web site and the information gleaned,
Thanks for your comments John. I am pleased that you like the Sydney Observatory website for we do try to provide useful and interesting information. Now that it is early summer in Australia Orion is once again prominent in the eastern sky. And yes it is upside down compared to the view that you are used to from the northern hemisphere.
Dude it’s been over a year, when’s the update?
Hello Izzy. Stars like the stars of Orion do not change in human timescales so there is no obvious need to update this post. Sydney Observatory does provide regular monthly sky guides so that people know what to look for in the sky during any month of each year.
Is Orion a hunter of Artimis ?