34Orion, The Hunter
NAME: Orion (oh-RYE-un)
SEASON: Early winter
CULMINATION: midnight, 13 December
ABBREVIATION: Ori
GENITIVE: Orionis (or-ee-OWN-is)
NEIGHBORS: Eri, Gem, Lep, Mon, Tau
BINOCULAR OBJECTS: NGC 1662, NGC 1981, NGC 1976 (M 42), NGC 2068 (M 78), NGC 2169
URBAN OBJECTS: NGC 1981, NGC 1976 (M 42), NGC 2169
Orion is a mid-size equatorial constellation that ranks 26th in size among the 88 constellations. Orion covers 594 square degrees of the celestial sphere, or about 1.4%. Orion is the most impressive constellation in the sky, and the one most likely to be familiar even to non-astronomers. The hourglass asterism of Orion is as familiar to most people as the Big Dipper or Plough asterism of Ursa Major. Orion includes two of the sky’s ...
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