Spring is a good time to see the famous constellation of Orion. The three stars that make up his belt are obvious to see high in the eastern sky. Hanging from the belt is his sword. The middle “star” of the sword is the Great Orion Nebula or M42 which is really a gaseous cloud that is creating hundreds of stars and can be seen with binoculars or beautifully with a telescope. Above the belt a single red star Betelgeuse makes up his right shoulder while the blue-white star of Rigel marks his left.
These two stars are colored because of their temperature. Rigel is a hot blue-white star with a temperature of 23,000° F and Betelgeuse is a red star with a temperature of only 5,000° F. Our sun is a yellow star that’s in the middle at 11,000° F.
An arch of stars creates a curved shield held in his left hand, and a small cluster of stars locates his head. His knees are marked by two other bright stars. With a club in his right hand, Orion fights Taurus the bull whose horns are marked by the “v” pattern of stars close to Orion’s shield. Taurus has kidnapped the seven sisters or The Pleidese which is shown as a close cluster of seven stars shaped like a thumb print (if you see all seven you have good eye sight).
