Introduction
Orion is one of the most well-known and visible constellations, which is located on the celestial equator and has a shape of a 26-sided polygon. Its square is 594 square degrees. Orion can be seen by the naked eye from November to February between 85 and 75 degrees latitude, in the southwest sky from a position in the Northern Hemisphere or in the northwest sky from a position in the Southern Hemisphere, with a 5-hour right ascension and a 5-degree declination (Dolan par. 2).
The so-called Orion’s belt is formed by three of the brightest stars in the constellation: Alnilam, Mintaka, and Alnitak. Another bright star is Betelgeuse also known as Alpha Orionis; it is also the ninth-bright star visible from the Earth. Betelgeuse is large enough to be seen in the Hubble Telescope as a disc instead of a point. Some observers may even notice the color difference between it and the other stars in the constellation. The Orion Nebula is an entity formed by stardust, hydrogen, helium, and various ionized gases. Other bright stars include Saiph, Hatsya, Meissa, and Rigel, also known as Beta Orionis. All Orion stars are bright young blue giants or supergiants, with a single exception of Betelgeuse; it is a red supergiant (Zimmerman par. 1-6).
Mythology and History
The Orion constellation was known to the Ancient Greeks and received its name after a character from their mythology. Orion, a handsome and tall man, was a proud and boastful warrior and hunter. His father was Poseidon, the god of the sea, and his mother was Euryale, a Cretan princess. Orion was remarkably strong due to his half-divine origin, was heavily armed, and had two hunter dogs. His vanity reached so far that he did not believe that the seven beautiful sisters named the Pleiades could reject his affections. However, they did, and Orion started stalking the young women.
He is still doing it, according to the star map. The story about how he got to the sky is a different one. Orion claimed that he was able to kill the beasts, which belonged to Gaia, the goddess of the Earth. Gaia was annoyed by his boasts, so she sent a scorpion, who stung Orion to his death. Both Orion and the Scorpion were sent to the sky as constellations, but, as a safety measure, they never meet (Sasaki 86). Interestingly, Orion managed to take his dogs with them; they exist as the Canis Major and Canis Minor stars.
Aside from the Greeks, Orion was independently discovered by multiple ancient cultures, which can be found in their myths and legends. The earliest knowledge about Orion is traced back to the pre-historical times, between 32,000 and 38,000 years ago, when its depiction was carved on mammoth ivory. Babylonians called Orion the Heavenly Shepherd. For Egyptians, it was an emanation of Osiris, the god of death and rebirth. Since the Egyptian Pharaohs were believed to transform into Osiris as they die, their subordinates depicted the constellation by building pyramids to facilitate the transformation.
The Aztecs aligned the name Fire Drill with the stars, which form Orion’s belt and sword. Fire Drill was of high importance to the Aztecs: its appearance in the sky marked the start of the New Fire ritual, which they had to perform to make the divine forces postpone the world’s end. For the Scandinavians, Orion is connected with the goddess Freya; it is named Frigg’s Distaff after her spinning tool. Orion was also known to the ancient Chinese, medieval Muslims, and indigenous people of the Americas, as well as mentioned in the Bible (“Orion Constellation” 18-20). The first scientific discovery related to Orion occurred in 161 when Galileo Galilei discovered Trapezium, a star cluster in the center of Orion Nebula (“Orion Constellation” 94).
Rigel
Rigel, or Beta Orionis, is a blue supergiant and the brightest star in the constellation, which serves as the left foot to Orion. Rigel is included in the spectral type B8lab and classified as a moderately irregular variable star. It is situated at the distance of 755 light-years from Earth, which means that its bluish-white light that we see now is 755 years old, and it left the star in the 13th century. Interestingly, Rigel is now moving to the end of its star life. Rigel is around 10 million years old, and it has already passed the stage of transforming hydrogen into helium (the Sun is now at this stage) and now is transforming helium into oxygen and carbon (Pace par. 2-3; “Orion Constellation” par. 23-29; Koupelis 7-8).
Conclusion
After a series of observations, it was concluded that Rigel star is moving in the southeast direction. Among the stars with a similar mode of motion is Sirius. In the Northern Hemisphere, people from the majority of places can see Sirius on evenings from winter to the middle of spring in the southeastern, southern, or southwestern part of the sky. In the mid-northern latitudes, Sirius ascends in the southeast, goes across the sky in its southern part, and sets in the southwestern part. The best time for observing Sirius from a position in the Northern Hemisphere is February.
In December, Sirius would be ascending in mid-evening. By the middle of April, Sirius would be setting in mid-evening, in the southwestern part of the sky. Additionally, Sirius is perfectly observable in the morning in late summer; in such times, it rises in the east right before dawn. Without regard to the time, an observer can easily recognize Sirius since it is the brightest star in the night sky. One more method to find Sirius easily if one already knows the location of Orion is to draw a line through the Belt to the left. This line will point to Sirius, even though this star is far from the Belt.
Works Cited
Dolan, Chris. Orion. 2011. Web.
Koupelis, Theo. In Quest of the Stars and Galaxies. Boston: Jones and Barlett Publishers, 2010. Print.
Orion Constellation. 2015. Web.
Pace, Alexei. “Winter Stars’ Movement.” Times of Malta, 2015. Times of Malta. Web.
Sasaki, Chris. Constellations: The Stars and Stories. New York City, New York: Starling Publishing, 2003. Print.
Zimmerman, Kim Ann. Orion Constellation: Facts About the Hunter. 2012. Web.