For observers in the southern hemisphere, the hourglass figure of Orion appears upside down. In January, Orion’s Belt appears high in the northeastern sky, parallel to the horizon, around 10 pm. By April, it moves to the northwest and sets earlier in the evening, appearing perpendicular to the horizon.
Taurus: the Bull Constellation
It is a direct reference to the biblical tale of the three kings who offered gifts to the baby Christ. Alnitak is a triple star system, Alnilam is 375,000 times brighter than the Sun and Mintaka is a binary star system (two stars orbiting each other). In ancient Egyptian mythology, the stars in Orion’s Belt represented the resting place of the soul of Osiris, the Egyptian god of the deceased. There is even a theory, proposed since the late 20th century, that the ancient Egyptians positioned the pyramids of Giza to align with the stars in Orion’s Belt roughly 4,500 years ago.
Orion: the Hunter Constellation
He dialed to the time in the Age of Leo, basing to the structure of the Sphinx, and found the exact alignment in 10500BC. One of the most fascinating mysteries related to Orion’s Belt is the Pyramids of Giza. This idea was popularized by Robert Bauval in the Orion Correlation Theory.
In the Southern Hemisphere, it will be high above the northern horizon — Massey. During the winter months, Orion’s Belt and the Big Dipper are both prominent in the night sky. The constellations appear in different parts of the sky, with the bright Gemini and the faint Lynx between them. A line extended through the Big Dipper’s bowl leads to Castor, the second brightest star in Gemini. The brighter Pollux is part of the Winter Circle, a large hexagonal asterism also formed by Capella in Auriga, Aldebaran in Taurus, Rigel in Orion, Sirius in Canis Major, and Procyon in Canis Minor.
Delta Orionis C ( δ Orionis C)
The asterism is easy to find because is part of one of the most prominent stellar patterns in the northern sky, the hourglass-shaped constellation figure of Orion. The asterism and the constellation dominate the evening sky from November to February. Robert Bauval has noticed that the least bright star in the western side of Orion’s Belt, Mintaka, is slightly out of line from the two. To prove his theory, Bauval used modern astronomical computer programs to Orion’s Bet see the position of the sky in Giza. He tried to look into the position of the sky in the supposed time when the Pyramids were being built, in 2500BC.
Though the time frame fit around the time of the visit of the Three Wise Men, experts from other places did not note the appearance, so it was not that bright. When King Herod heard about this, he became worried that someone will become a new king. He called the chief priests and scribes of his kingdom and asked them about the newborn king. The priests said that the baby is in Bethlehem of Judea, as it was in the prophecy. Upon knowing about this, King Herod called the three Wise Men and asked about the star that they were following. He told the wise men to bring him the word when they have found the child so that he can also pay homage to the new king.
A line drawn through the Belt stars to the northwest leads to Aldebaran, the luminary of the constellation Taurus and the 14th brightest star in sky. Aldebaran appears as a member of the V-shaped Hyades cluster, which outlines the head of the Bull, but is much closer to us than the cluster. Rigel is also a young star, estimated to be 8 million years old. Like Betelgeuse, Rigel is much larger and heavier than our Sun.
Bright stars in the Orion constellation
It shines at magnitude 6.85 and consists of a spectroscopic binary pair. The two components orbit each other with a period of about 30 days. Even though it is a young star, Alnilam is already approaching the end of its life.
Aldebaran the brightest star in the constellation of Taurus the Bull. We can find this red star if we draw a line connecting Orion’s Belt and extending it to the side of Mintaka. There are about 6,000 in the night sky that are visible to the naked eye but only 58 are selected. Two of these stars orbit each other and the third component orbits the pair. It only takes 5.7 days for the first two stars to orbit around one another because they are close. Since these stars orbit each other, there will be times when one passes in front of the other and covers it from our line of sight here on Earth.
We can see it during the winter months in the northern latitudes, from about November to February. During that time, the season in the Southern Hemisphere is summer. Observers from the south of the equator can see Orion’s Belt during summer months. From anywhere on Earth, the best time to see the Celestial Hunter’s Belt is at 9 pm during the first month of the year, in January. Chances are excellent that if you can’t yet picture what Orion looks like, you’ll have an “aha!” moment once you lay eyes on either a star chart or the real thing.
- Orion’s Belt is one of the asterisms that can be used to find the declination 0° (the equator), along with the Head of Cetus, the Head of Hydra, the Water Jar of Aquarius, and the Y of Virgo.
- 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 Third Mesa is in the West, just like the star Mintaka in Orion’s Belt.
- In late November, Orion appears to be lying on his side, with the three stars of the belt pointing upward, in the Northern Hemisphere.
- We begin to understand the connection of the celestial objects by following some of the most prominent features in the sky like Orion’s Belt.
The Flame Nebula
- Gaspar, the King of Sheba, gave the present of Frankincense.
- Some astrophysicists, however, only consider Mintaka to be constituted by the two major stars we just talked about; a class 9.5 giant star and B main-sequence star.
- The best time to see Orion’s belt is between November and March for the Northern and Southern hemispheres — Wibisono.
- In April, Orion is starting to dip in the horizon after its season.
- The story of the Three Kings is perhaps the most famous one related to the three stars of Orion’s Belt.
- Although it’s 56,000 times more luminous than our own Sun, its distance of around 650 lightyears reduces it to mag.
Continue from Orion’s Belt drawing a straight line until you reach a bright star — that’s Sirus. In Western culture, you may sometimes hear Orion’s Belt referred to as the Three Kings in a biblical reference or the three sisters. In Chinese mythology, Orion’s Belt goes by The Weighing Beam. Two books of the Bible — the Book of Job and the Book of Amos — mention Orion’s Belt, along with another well-known asterism, the Pleiades.