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| Orion the Hunter |
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| Orion is one of the oldest and best known constellations. It is also one of the easiest to pick out. Orion is the legendary great hunter of the Greek mythology. It was said he was the most beautiful of men and the most skillfull of hunters. Unfortunately Orion accepted this praise with utter confidence it was true, and then some. He began boasting of his skills, claiming to have total superiouity over all creatures. Quite naturally, this annoyed the gods that be and they decided to punish him for his greatly inflated ego. Firmly believing in capitol punishment, the gods sent Scorpius, the scorpion was to earth to sting Orion's foot, and kill him. Diana, an admirer of Orion (and his ego) implored the gods to place the great hunter in the sky to remember him by. This they agreed to, so long as they also placed the scorpion there to warn against such nasty crimes as ego. In Orion's last dying breatls he begged not to be placed near the scorpion. And so, Orion dominates the winter skies while Scorpius' domain is the summer skies |
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| Description One of the most easily recognized of all constellations, Orion lies near to the Milky Way, and thus contains many open clusters and some of the best nebulae in the heavens. Led by the bright stars Betelgeuse and Rigel, this constellation holds many fine telescopic and binocular objects, along with some of the most photographed regions of the sky. Its arrival in the night sky in December signals the beginning of the winter observing season, with its crisp, clear nights and fine “seeing”. So bundle up, make some coffee or hot chocolate, and get out under the stars for some of the finest observing of the year! |
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| M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion One of the finest sights in the entire sky, M42 is easily visible to the naked eye as the “fuzzy” star in the middle of Orion’s sword. It appears distinctly nebulous in binoculars or finder scopes, and shows an amazing amount of detail through the telescope. It is fully a degree in extent, with a wealth of fine curling wisps of nebulosity curving out from the brightest region surrounding the four relatively bright stars known as the Trapezium. On good nights with low power, I have even been able to see colors in this object. The region around the Trapezium appears as a cold steel blue color, while the wispy regions further away can appear as a soft ruddy pink. Slightly separated from the main nebulosity is M-43. This nebula is seen as a comma shaped cloud surrounding an eighth magnitude star just north of the Great Nebula. The more time you spend in this area, the more fine detail you can seen. The Trapezium is seen at the core of the Orion Nebula. It appears as a trapezoid, with four bright stars at unequal distances. A closer look will show six distinct stars, and an even closer look will show more. A bluish nebulosity shines throughout this grouping, and a 3 dimensional appearance can be seen under high magnification. |
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| M-78 is another fine area of nebulosity. It is about 6' in diameter, and surrounds two magnitude 10 stars. It is somewhat fan shaped, and appears comet-like at low powers. NGC's 2064, 2067, and 2071 lie in very close proximity to M-78, and are all nebulous regions as well. |
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