Where is orion

Finding Orion's Belt is the easiest way to locate the Orion Constellation. Orion's Belt is formed by three bright stars; Alnilam, Mintaka and Alnitak. Orion is in the southwestern sky if you are in the Northern Hemisphere or the northwestern sky if you are in the Southern Hemisphere.

It is best seen between latitudes 85 and minus 75 degrees. Its right ascension is 5 hours, and its declination is 5 degrees. Betelgeuse , the second brightest star in Orion — according to the night sky guide website In-The-Sky.

Bellatrix serves as Orion's left shoulder. Other stars in the constellation include Hatsya, which establishes the tip of Orion's sword that hangs off the belt, and Meissa, which forms Orion's head.

Saiph serves as Orion's right knee. Rigel , Orion's brightest star, forms the hunter's left knee. With one exception, all of the main stars in Orion are bright young blue giants or supergiants, ranging in distance from Bellatrix light-years to Alnilam 1, light-years. The Orion Nebula is located around 1, light-years away from Earth.

One light-year is the distance light travels in a single year, about 6 trillion miles 10 trillion kilometers. The exception is the star Betelgeuse , which is a red giant and one of the largest stars known.

Observers with a keen eye should be able to see the difference in color between Betelgeuse and all the other stars in Orion. The Orion Constellation is home to many interesting stargazing targets, we explore a handful of them here.

Though some of these targets can be seen with the naked eye, for a better view we recommend using binoculars or a telescope. Though they are different types of stars, distant from Earth, and distant from one another, our perspective makes them appear as an asterism a shape made of stars that aren't officially a constellation that is welcomingly familiar to anyone who enjoys stargazing. All three stars are several times larger and brighter than our sun.

Due to its bright, recognizable form, Orion's Belt has been one of the most consistently documented asterisms in the night sky throughout human history. Orion's Belt — along with another well-known asterism, the Pleiades, are mentioned in two books of the Bible: the Book of Job and the Book of Amos. Orion is still chasing them there. In Western culture, you may sometimes hear Orion's Belt referred to as the Three Kings in a biblical reference or the three sisters.

The asterism is mentioned in other cultural stories and mythologies too, from locations as varied as northwestern Mexico, Finland and India. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy included Orion as one of the 48 original constellations in the second century.

You've probably seen Orion's Belt even if you don't know anything about astronomy. The constellation Orion is visible at night across most of the globe during the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere; during the summer months, it is in the sky during daylight hours when the sun makes it impossible to see.

These seasons are reversed if you are viewing Orion from the Southern Hemisphere. Orion's Belt is located on the celestial equator an imaginary circle around the sky that is directly above Earth's equator , which means it rises high in the sky during those cold winter months with dark skies that are perfect for stargazing.

Orion rises in the east and sets in the west, starting at mid-evening midway between sundown and midnight. It rises four minutes earlier each day, or two hours earlier each month, according to EarthSky. Orion's Belt is easy to find because it is bright, and the stars in the asterism appear to be equally distant from one another based on our earthly perspective.

The brightness of objects in the night sky as seen from Earth are measured on a logarithmic scale: the lower the number, the brighter the object.

This scale means an object with magnitude 1 will be 10 times brighter than a magnitude 2 object. The Sun has a magnitude of , while the brightest star in the night sky, Sirius, has a magnitude of Finding the Orion Nebula is easy as it is in the constellation Orion, one of the most easily recognisable constellations. The star is classified as a Beta Lyrae variable, a type of close binary star with variations in brightness caused by one component occasionally passing in front of the other one.

Sigma Orionis is a multiple star system in Orion constellation. It consists of five stars located a little south of Alnitak. The system is approximately 1, light years distant. The primary component in the Sigma Orionis system is a double star, Sigma Orionis AB, composed of two hydrogen-fusing dwarfs separated by only 0.

The brighter star is blue. It belongs to the spectral type O9V, and has an apparent magnitude of 4. The companion belongs to the spectral class B0. The two stars orbit each other every years. Sigma Orionis C is a dwarf star belonging to the spectral type A2V. It has an apparent magnitude of 8. Sigma Orionis D and E are also dwarfs.

Both belong to the spectral type B2V and their respective magnitudes are 6. Sigma Orionis E is notable for being exceptionally rich in helium. With an apparent magnitude of 3. Chi-1 Orionis is a main sequence dwarf, only 28 light years distant from Earth.

It belongs to the spectral type G0V and has an apparent magnitude of 4. It has a faint red dwarf for a companion, with an orbital period of Gliese is an orange dwarf, belonging to the spectral class K7.

The star is believed to have passed only 5 light years from the Sun approximately , years ago. The nebula has a huge hole of empty space appearing as a black patch in its central region.

The reason why the patch appears black has not yet been determined, but one theory suggests that narrow jets of gas from the neighbouring young stars may have punctured the sheet of dust and gas in the nebula and strong radiation from an older star in the region may have helped create the hole. The nebula lies about 1, light years from Earth.

V Orionis belongs to the spectral type A0 and is approximately 1, light years distant. GJ is the nearest Orion star to the solar system. It is located only It is a red dwarf, belonging to the spectral class M3.

GJ is believed to have come within 4. The Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, or simply the Orion Complex, is comprised of a large group of dark clouds, bright emission and reflection nebulae, dark nebulae, H II regions large clouds showing recent star forming activity and young stars in the constellation Orion. The Orion Complex is between 1, and 1, light years distant. Several parts of it — the famous Orion Nebula, for one — can be seen without binoculars.

The nebula is one of the brightest ones in the sky and can be seen without binoculars. It has a visual magnitude of 4. Messier 42 is the nearest known region of massive star formation to the solar system. It is part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Cluster. The Orion Nebula contains the Trapezium, or the Orion Trapezium Cluster , a very young open cluster easily recognizable by its four brightest stars, which form a trapezium-shaped asterism. The Trapezium Cluster is a young, tight open star cluster located in the centre of the Orion Nebula.

It is 47 arc seconds in size and has an apparent magnitude of 4. The cluster was first discovered by Galileo Galilei on February 4, He drew three of the stars A, C and D , and the fourth one was added by observers in By , eight stars were discovered in the cluster.

The brightest five emit most of the light that illuminates the surrounding nebula. The Trapezium Cluster is easily identifiable in the sky by the asterism formed by the four brightest stars, A, B, C and D. Schneider, E. Young, G. Rieke, A. Cotera, H. Chen, M. Rieke, R. Wong Rice University. The brightest and most massive star in the cluster, component C, is Theta-1 Orionis C, a blue main sequence star belonging to the spectral class O6pe V. The star has a visual magnitude of 5.

It is one of the most luminous stars known, with an absolute magnitude of Theta-1 Orionis C is also the star with the highest surface temperature of any star that is visible to the unaided eye: 45, K. Charles Messier later designated the nebulosity Messier 43 and included it in his catalogue. It has an apparent magnitude of 9. The nebula is located about seven arc minutes north of the Trapezium cluster.

Messier 78 is a reflection nebula in Orion. The nebula surrounds two 10th magnitude stars and can easily be found in a small telescope. It also contains some 45 T Tauri type variables, young stars still in the process of formation. The Horsehead Nebula, also known as Barnard 33 , is a famous dark nebula in Orion. It is located south of Alnitak, in the bright emission nebula IC The Horsehead Nebula is approximately 1, light years distant.

It was discovered by the American astronomer Williamina Fleming in