Saturday, September 19, 2015

Orion the Hunter

I just saw the constellation Orion for the first time this year...  it is interesting for a few reasons.... it is a winter time constellation....  the nights are long in the winter and make for much better viewing than the summer... it is called the Hunter and you can see it in the early morning sky starting around this time of year.... and it will climb through the sky throughout the winter....  and in the spring it will set.... only to return in the fall.
It is also interesting because it contains the Orion  Nebula.... the remnants of a star that blew up long ago.... an event that was documented by early Chinese astronomers.
It is probably one of the most photographed objects in the sky and it is also an area where a great number of new stars are born from the remnants of the long gone star's death.