Today:
Orion boasts a fine collection of bright stars, including the bluish-white beacon to the lower right of his three belt stars. Rigel, meaning “left foot”, is classified as a blue supergiant, estimated to be 862 light years, and emitting approximately 200 thousand times more light than the Sun.
Wednesday:
With a view to the south at 8:20 PM, you can see the constellation Canis Major, the Big Dog, facing upward toward Orion. Above Orion will appear the Waxing Gibbous Moon, the home plate within cosmic basball diamand, with Jupiter at first base, Betelgeuse at second, and Aldebaran at third. Behind home plate, calling balls and strikes, it the bright star Capella.
Thursday:
Brilliant moonlight will hamper stargazers this evening, but the trio of bright stars marking Orion’s Belt should be easy to spot, due south in the evenings near 7:00 PM. The star on the left, Alnitak, is actually a triplet of stars, the two primary stars orbiting each other every 7 years, the larger of the two being 20 times larger, and 250 thousand times brighter than the Sun!