Isn’t winter the best for stargazing? The air seems clearer and the stars sharper and brighter. One of the best things about the winter sky are the great views of the constellation Orion the Hunter. This is one of the best known and loved of the constellations. Orion is one of the few constellations that I already knew before meeting the man, who is much more versed in astronomy than I was, or still am. I’ve learned a great deal from him and I’ve come to enjoy gazing at the night sky and identifying the stars, as long as it’s not too freezing out there.
photo courtesy of www.pixabay.com
For some reason it’s comforting to me to look up and see the same patterns in the sky each night, slowly changing as the earth rotates around the sun. Having never traveled to the Southern hemisphere, I’ve often wondered how strange it might be to look at the sky and see a whole different view, seeing stars and constellations we in the northern half of the world, don’t get to see.
If you would like to learn more about Orion, good old Wikipedia has a great entry on it. This article goes into detail on the history and mythology of Orion.
Here is another one from earthsky.org with some very practical information for those wanting to know best viewing times for Orion.
Happy stargazing! What are you thinking about today?
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