The most fascinating view in the night sky is the constellation. It is a formation of stars that are grouped together. The identification of the shape of a constellation depends on the culture of the person looking at it. For instance, Ursa Major is sometimes called as the Great Bear. Orion is one of the famous constellations. It is situated at the celestial equator and can be seen all around the world. The name Orion was taken from Greek mythology which means a “hunter”. Gemini and Taurus are two of the bordering constellations of Orion. Rigel is its brightest star.
Orion’s Belt is the asterism of Orion constellation which pertains to the three stars within Orion. It is also popularly called the Three Kings or the Three Sisters. Its three bright stars are named: Mintaka, Alnilam and Alnitak.
Orion’s Belt has been known since the ancient times. Owing to the fact that many people, including the Egyptians, the Arabs, the Romans and the Greeks have their stories to tell about how they identified the forms of the constellation, it is therefore true to say that no particular astronomer has ever discovered Orion. Although, there was no evidence that the Greeks truly discovered Orion, still its name was derived from Greek mythology.
The figure of Orion is as a hunter which holds a club and shield. One of the three brightest stars seen on the leg of the hunter is called Rigel, which is considered the 6th brightest star in the dark sky. Generally, due to the brightness of Orion’s stars, they were used to find other stars such as Sirius and Castor. Christians identify Orion’s Belt with the three magi from the far east who came to visit Christ in Bethlehem. The Egyptians however, connects Orion’s Belt with the pyramid of Giza.
