Night Sky: Orion the Hunter

Orion the Hunter

The night sky is truly a marvel worth observing and learning about.  As a parent, I enjoy talking with my kids about the constellations and the myths that surround them.  The Greeks were particularly creative with their mythology to the point where they could see their heroes and heroines identified in the heavens.

I think its fun to know a few of the major constellations and I'm going to do my best from time to time to point a few of these out so that you can impart your knowledge of ancient lore and astronomy to friends and family.  Who knows, you may become so good that you might end up with a dream job at NASA. 

Most everyone can point to the big dipper (also known as Ursa Major) and the North Star, and most folks can make out the usual arrangements of stars by their patterns but cannot usually name them. 

Orion the Hunter is a well known constellation that is seen during the Winter season on our Hemisphere.  Orion is also a constellation that is wholly visible throughout the world which is not the case with all constellations. Orion is easily identified by recognizing a large hour glass shape with three stars in a row in the middle of the hourglass which make up Orion's belt.  

The bright star Betelgeuse is in the left upper quadrant which makes up the right shoulder of Orion (assuming Orion is facing the observer), Betelgeuse is a significant star in that it is an M-Type Red Supergiant, and the twelvth brightest star in our night sky. Rigel  is the another bright star which makes up the left foot of Orion.  Rigel is a B-Type Blue Supergiant. Rigel is the 6th brightest star in our night sky.

Orion and Taurus in proximity to
 each other


For beginners, it's not important to know the difference between an A-Type Star or a B-Type star, or to name all the key stars in the Night Sky, but its helpful when trying to pick out the constellations that are not always so apparent. Admittedly, it trivia probably better suited for wowing friends not kids.

As pictured to the right, Orion the Hunter often seen doing battle against Taurus which is depicted with two large visible horns stretching out over Orion and almost touching his sword. 

Mythology

Despite Orion's proximity to Taurus the Bull in the Night Sky, surprisingly, there is no mythlogical connection between the two. 
Orion the Hunter has his basis in Greek Mythology. Orion was the son of Poseidon of the Sea, and Euryale the Sea Nymph who was the daughter of King Minos of Crete. Orion was considered both strong and boastful claiming he could defeat any create on the Earth.  In order to tame his boastful nature, Gaia, the Goddess of Earth sent a Scorpion (Scorpius) to kill Orion.  Gaia, was successful in her bid as it is told that Orion was pierced by the giant Scorpion.

As I learned when drafting this piece, there are actually a number of stories associated with Orion which vary dramatically.  Some have Orion as the son of Neptune, which follows the same story above. While others tell a tale that Orion was killed trying to save Leto from a Scorpion.  And yet a third tragic version is that Apollo, brother of Artemis attempted to separate his twin sister Artemis from her desired union with Orion.   So while Apollo was out swimming in the sea, Apollo challenged Artemis to demonstrate her archery skills by hitting a distant black object bobbing in the sea.  Unknowingly, Artemis let fly a fatal arrow that killed Orion.  In her grief, Artemis put Orion in the Heavens.

Nearly all the myths with the exception of the Artemis-Orion fatal love story tie Orion to Scorpius.  Orion and Scorpius are never seen together in the night sky.  Usually the tale told is that Scorpius is chasing Orion around the Earth to punish him for his boastful nature.

Orion is often depicted
with a shield. Here the
shield is replaced with a Lion

Unrelated to the various myths, Orion is also pictured in constellation imagery killing a lion or hunting Lepus the Hare.
Althought from an observer's perspective it is much easier to envision Orion holding either a sword or club above his head, and brandishing a large shield to his right which is easily identiable given the imagined line that can be drawn between the stars that out lines these two objects.

Orion has been so well known over the years even to the ancient Greeks, so much so that the constellation is mentioned in Horace's Odes, Homer's Odyssey (Book 5, line 283) and Iliad, and Virgil's Aeneid (Book 1, line 535). 

So the next time you are outside, look up and marvel at the Great Hunter Orion.  He is truly an amazing bright constellation with a tragic tale of either arrogance and death, or love and death.  You get to chose which story you like best.