Orion constellation dominates the winter sky in Arizona

With winter now underway and the Geminid meteor shower over, it is a great time to explore the wonders of the constellation Orion as it appears high in the southeastern sky around 8 p.m. Arizona time.

Welcome, Orion!

This magical constellation is easy to see even from the bright lights of the city.

Orion the Hunter is made up of at least seven major bright stars and it also houses one of the most amazing objects in the sky, the great Orion Nebula.

Orion is one of the ancient constellations, making up 594 square degrees in the night sky. In this deep star field, we now know of some 10 stars that actually contain planets around them.

In Greek mythology, Orion is a part of the epic odyssey of Homer, as a hunter with a bronze club seeking out prey with his dog Sirius.

Orion finally met his fate, killed by a giant scorpion for claiming he would kill every beast on Earth.

Zeus finally proclaimed that Orion should be placed as a constellation in the night sky, as well as the scorpion, Scorpius.

Of the 88 constellations in the night sky, Orion comes in as the 26th largest.

Just in case you forgot, here is what the constellation of Orion looks like in our Arizona skies:

Moving toward the top left of Orion, we come to the bright orange super giant star Betelgeuse.

This amazing star is some 642 light years from Earth; the light you see left the star in 1379.

This star is one that may have already exploded into a great supernova. Only time will tell when we see this star brighten in a most dramatic way.

Betelgeuse is some 700 times the diameter of our sun, making it nearly 700 million miles in diameter.

On the lower right side of Orion, we come across another bright star known as Rigel.

Rigel is the seventh-brightest star in the night sky, located some 860 light years from your eye. The light we see tonight left the star in 1159 to make its way across the universe.

Rigel is a hot blue super giant star, with extreme temperature. The energy output is estimated to be at least 200,000 times that of our sun.

If Rigel were to be located within one parsec (32 light years) from the sun, it would shine with nearly half the luminosity of the full moon!

Now for the best: Located just below the main belt stars of Orion is the famous Orion Nebula.

You can see the Orion Nebula quite easy through a pair of binoculars. Here is what it looks like in binoculars.

The Orion Nebula, or M42 by its Messier designation, is a stellar nursery located 1,340 light years from us. It has a true diameter of about 24 light years and seeing it in a pair of binoculars or a small telescope is just amazing to view.

Telescopic viewers on a dark moon less night will marvel at the vast dust clouds and stars seen within it. All this is powered up by an interesting little cluster of four stars known as the Trapezium.

Here is the view of the Trapezium.

Here is a more detailed star chart for observers with large telescopes.

You are looking at the inner workings of a star nursery, with stars actually being born out of the vast gas and dust required for stellar evolution.

Take time to enjoy this stellar treasure and share the view with someone.

Orion is a must-see constellation and one that will be in our Arizona skies, for many months to come.

To print your own monthly star chart, click here.

To view satellites/dates/times of passage, click here.

Listen to the Dr. Sky Show on KTAR News 92.3 FM Saturdays at 3 a.m.