December 18, 2024: Orion enters the eastern evening sky, rising earlier each evening. The Hunter is accompanied by Sirius and Procyon.
by Jeffrey L. Hunt
Chicago, Illinois: Sunrise, 7:14 a.m. CDT; Sunset, 4:22 p.m. CST. Check local sources for sunrise and sunset times. Times are calculated by the US Naval Observatory’s MICA computer program.
Orion Emerges
Orion is an easy constellation to recognize, visible to sky watchers across the planet. The pattern’s seven brightest stars are easy to locate in the sky. Three stars of nearly equal brightness line up. They are surround by a large rectangle of bright stars.
Betelgeuse, marking one of Orion’s shoulders, is a bright red-orange star. Shining from 500 light years away, it has a brightness of over 10,000 suns.
Blue-white Rigel is at one knee. Nearly twice Betelgeuse’s distance it shines with an intensity of nearly 50,000 suns.
Orion and its congregation of surrounding stars is prominently placed in the southern sky after sunset during February.
Orion Nebula
An easy-to-find gaseous nebula is below Orion’s three belt stars. Cataloged as Messier 42 (M 42 on the chart), the Great Orion Nebula is a place of star formation. Stars’ nuclear fuels begin to ignite in these gas clouds.
Through a binocular, place the three stars near the top of the field of view. The nebula’s gaseous tenacles are easy to see below the stellar trio. The colors exhibited in photographs are not visible to the human eye. Its presence and a few stars in the cloud are easy to see.
Orion’s Dogs
As the winter solstice approaches, the Hunter and his hunting Dogs, Canis Major and Canis Minor, are in the east-southeastern sky. Sirius, the Dog Star, appears below the Hunter. Less than 10 light years away, it shines with the intensity of only 20 suns, puny compared to Orion’s brightest stars.
Sirius is likely twinkling wildly from the rising and falling air currents near the horizon. The moving air breaks the starlight into its component colorful display of changing color. Inspect this with the binocular.
Procyon, meaning before the dog because it rises shortly before Sirius, is about 10° up in the east. It is slightly farther than Sirius and shines with a brightness of over 10 suns.
Sirius, Betelgeuse, and Procyon are known as the Winter Triangle. The equilateral scale is helpful to observe and becomes handy in the summertime when looking for Sirius before sunrise at its heliacal rising.
During late autumn and throughout the winter season look for Orion and his dogs in the sky after nightfall.
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You people are some liars Orion has been in our skies for over a year and guess what he’s been rising on his back and setting on his face and he was rising for a few months now around 1:00am then 9:30pm now he’s ,7:30pm see in January he will disappear from our view because of the way earth is being pulled by those giant magnets don’t play dumb you exactly what I am talking about Orion has been trespassing in the northern hemisphere he’s way way early by the way I see the moon all confounded since mother has rolled on her side ready to birth us and she been showing signs as a woman contracting her relief is the erupting on every continent and shaking the whole womb but you idiots continue to speak on bullshit instead of facts your bunkers are not going to save you we know what you do and we know what to do
Ok, the comment is accurate, well at least the first part. Orion made its first morning appearance last summer that we wrote about. Orion’s brightest stars are labeled in a photo during September, so we clearly know it’s visible during the morning hours during the summer and autumn. Orion is now making its appearance in the evening sky rising after sunset. Not sure about the nature and tone of the comment.