The beautiful and very noticeable constellation of Orion is in the south eastern sky and will dominate the winter sky from Christmas to Spring. Orion is the mythical hunter and is one of the few constellations which does look a bit like what it is named after. Orion wears a short tunic with a belt formed by a noticeable line of three stars. His left shoulder, as we look at him, is marked by the red giant star Betelgeuse and at the bottom right of his skirt is the giant white star Rigel. From the belt is the sheath for his sword and in the line or stars forming the sheath is a faint smudge of light formed by the great nebula, a huge cloud of gas and dust where new stars are formed.
The star Sirius is not part of Orion but is part of one of his hunting dogs Canis Major (The large dog) and is sometimes called 'The Dog Star'. To find Sirius, follow the line of Orion’s belt down for about six belt lengths and you will find a bright flashing star, this is Sirius. Sirius is the closest star that we can see from Britain only 9 light years away and is the brightest star. It is a large bright, hot white star about twice the diameter of our sun. Sirius is even more interesting by virtue of having a mysterious invisible companion.
Above and to the right of Orion is Taurus, with the red giant star Aldebaran at its centre. Aldebaran is in the centre of a cluster of stars called the Hyades but is not actually part of the cluster it is much nearer and just in the same line of sight. There is another very beautiful naked eye cluster in Taurus called the Pleiades or the Seven Sisters, this is the closest cluster to us and one of the youngest Those people with keen eyesight will be able to make out all seven stars on a clear night (they form the pattern of a small saucepan). Both these clusters are best seen in binoculars. In Perseus is a double cluster marked on the chart with a circle this cluster is also best seen in binoculars.
