ORION

Orion Orion Orion

Orion is of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky, that got its name after Orion, a hunter in the Greek mythology. It is located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is a winter constellation (a summer constellation in the southern hemisphere), it is best visible from January to April in the northern hemisphere. In the tropics the constellation transits at the zenith.

Orion is one of the oldest constellations due to its bright stars, and it played an importart part in many ancient mythologies. In many star lores the three middle stars ('The Orion Belt') and the and the four stars around them forming a rectangle had different names and myths. In ancient Egypt, the stars of Orion were regarded as a god, called Sah. As Orion rises before Sirius, the star whose rising was the basis for the Solar Egyptian calendar, its appearance in the sky was closely observed.
In Greek mythology, Orion was a gigantic, strong hunter, born to Euryale, a Gorgon, and Poseidon, the god of the sea. The constellation is also mentioned in Horace's Odes (Ode 3.27.18), Homer's Odyssey (Book 5, line 283) and Iliad, and Virgil's Aeneid (Book 1, line 535). Allthough the name Orion was known in the Greek-Roman culture, it was also called the Giant or Hunter, which name was also taken over by the ancient Arabic astronomers. The constellation appears in almost all mythologies around the world, for example in the ancient Hindu and Middle-Eastern culture, later in the European folklore, as well as in the legends of many African, Uralic and Siberian tribes.