On winter evenings, Orion is one of the easiest star patterns to find in the sky. Its identifying feature is a row of three stars which make up the belt of the legendary hunter, Orion. Above the ...

Orion's seven brightest stars make up the basic outline. The bright star, Betelgeuse, marks the right shoulder of the hunter, with bow pulled back. To the right is Bellatrix, the tip of the arrow.

The Orion constellation. The main stars of this constellation are connected by straight blue lines and some of them are labelled by their name. The Orion Nebula (M 42) is identified by the red square.

Astronomers have discovered that our solar system traveled through a dense, star-forming region near Orion about 14 million years ago. This cosmic journey may have altered Earth’s environment, ...