Orion Constellation Meaning

When the ancient Greeks looked up into the night sky, they saw the form of Orion, the great hunter of Greek mythology. There are numerous versions of the story of Orion’s birth. In one version of the story a poor shepherd named Hyrieus was visited by three Greek gods, Hermes, Poseidon, and Zeus. Hyrieus showed his guests great hospitality by slaughtering an ox, which was the only animal he owned. The gods chose to award Hyrieus’ generosity by granting him his greatest desire, a child. The gods instructed Hyrieus to take the hide of the sacrificed ox and bury it. In its place, a boy was born nine months later. Hyrieus named the boy Orion and he grew up to be an excellent hunter. He was such a good hunter that King Oenopion hired Orion to slay
Here are just a few of them. Orion has an approximate area of 595 square degrees, when compared to other constellations, it ranks 26th in size. Orion is visible in the southern and northern hemispheres. It is visible during the summer in the northwest evening sky in the southern hemisphere. When viewed in the southern hemisphere, the constellation appears upside down. In the northern hemisphere Orion is visible from autumn until spring in the southwest evening sky. In both the southern and northern hemispheres, the constellation rises in the east and sets in the west. Orion is best viewed between latitudes 85 degrees and minus 75 degrees. Orion’s right accession is five hours and its declination is five degrees. The constellation is made up of a total of 81 stars. Orion’s central stars are Alnilam, Alnitak, Bellatrix, Betelgeuse, Meissa, Mintaka, Rigel, and Saiph. The two brightest stars are Betelgeuse and Rigel. Rigel, also called Beta Orionis, is the brighter of the two and can be found in Orion’s leg. Saiph can be found in Orion’s other leg. Rigel produces 100,000 times more energy than the Sun, and is 40,000 times brighter than the Sun. Rigel is approximately 773 light years from Earth and is the seventh brightest star in the sky over all. Betelgeuse, also called Alpha Orionis, a red supergiant and the largest star in the Orion constellation. Betelgeuse’s red coloration can be seen with the naked eye. Its radius is 1,000 times that of the Sun and it is approximately 500 light years away from Earth. Betelgeuse forms one of Orion’s shoulders. The other shoulder is formed by Bellatrix, also known as Gamma Orionis. Meissa, also called Lambda Orionis, forms the head of Orion. Alnilam, Alnitak, and Mintaka are the three stars that form Orion’s belt. These three stars are also known as Epsilon Orionis, Zeta Orionis, and Delta Ori. The Orion Nebula also known as Messier 42, is located in Orion’s sword. It