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Ori - Orion the Hunter

  • Tau - Taurus the Bull

    IAU Constellation
    Tau - Taurus the Bull

    Size

    17 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Zodiac
    Northern
    Equatorial

    Intro and Visual description

    Taurus the Bull is easily spotted. Its head is the Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of stars. His horns point outward from the V. Aldebaran is the red eye of the Bull as he charges down upon us.

  • Eri - Eridanus the River

    IAU Constellation
    Eri - Eridanus the River

    Size

    6 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Southern
    Equatorial

    Intro and Visual description

    The River Eridanus flows northward (like the Nile) from the bright star Achernar (Arabic for "End of the River") to Kursa (beta-Eridani) near Rigel in Orion. Eridanus is the longest (not largest) constellation, spanning over 50 degrees of declination, and its many faint stars glitter like reflecting light off the surface of its waves.

  • Gem - Gemini the Twins

    IAU Constellation
    Gem - Gemini the Twins

    Size

    30 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Zodiac
    Northern

    Intro and Visual description

    Look for the two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, which form one vertex of the Winter Hexagon. Castor is closer to Capella, in Auriga on the north; and Pollus is closer to Procyon, in Canis Minor on the south. Cancer and Leo lie to the east.

    The Geminids meteor shower occurs around October 19.

  • Lep - Lepus the Hare

    IAU Constellation
    Lep - Lepus the Hare

    Size

    51 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Southern
  • Mon - Monoceros the Unicorn

    IAU Constellation
    Mon - Monoceros the Unicorn

    Size

    35 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Equatorial
    Southern
    Northern

    Intro and Visual description

    The Unicorn is running up behind Orion, who has not heard it coming (a sign of its magical nature).

  • Ori - Orion the Hunter

    IAU Constellation
    Ori - Orion the Hunter

    Size

    26 of 88
    Astronomical Regions
    Equatorial
    Northern
    Southern

    Intro and Visual description

    Three stars in a row make up Orion’s belt, within a rectangle of four bright stars representing his shoulders and feet. At sunset in the autumn, Orion’s belt appears to rise straight up on the horizon. The sword hanging from his belt includes M42, the beautiful Orion nebula.

    Since Orion’s belt of three bright stars lies upon the celestial equator, Orion is visible from every inhabited part of the globe.

  • M42 - Great Orion Nebula

    Object image

    M42, Orion Nebula, NASA, Hubble Space Telescope

    Object image source

    Hubble Space Telescope, NASA
    Permission
    Public domain

    A sword hanging from Orion's belt at first sight looks like three stars, but the middle one is ill-defined. With binoculars you can tell that it is not a star, but a cloudy region, called the Great Orion Nebula. A powerful telescope reveals the nebula to be a giant cloud of luminous gas, a cosmic nursery where stars are now being born. Through the Hubble space telescope the Great Orion Nebula becomes a colorful and awesome spectacle, over 20,000 times larger than our solar system. 

  • Urania's Mirror (1825) card: Orion

    Image

    Urania's Mirror, 1825, Orion
  • M43 - De Mairan's Nebula

    Object image

    M43, NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope

    Object image source

    NASA, ESA, Hubble Space Telescope
    Permission
    Public domain

    Part of the Great Orion Nebula (M42), separated by a lane of dust.

  • M78

    Object image

    M78, by Igor Chekalin,  European Southern Observatory (ESO); MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at the La Silla Observatory, Chile

    Object image source

    Igor Chekalin, European Southern Observatory (ESO); MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope…
    Permission
    cc-by

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Tau - Taurus the Bull

IAU Constellation
Tau - Taurus the Bull

Size

17 of 88
Astronomical Regions
Zodiac
Northern
Equatorial

Intro and Visual description

Taurus the Bull is easily spotted. Its head is the Hyades, a V-shaped cluster of stars. His horns point outward from the V. Aldebaran is the red eye of the Bull as he charges down upon us.

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Kerry Magruder, Brent Purkaple, and Aja Tolman, editors, "The Sky Tonight: Cultural Archaeology of the Stars" (December 21, 2019 - ongoing), skytonight.org.


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