Page:Field Book of Stars.djvu/120

 ORION (ō-rī'-on)—THE GIANT HUNTER. (Face South.)

—Orion is considered the finest constellation in the heavens. A line drawn from Nath to (δ) in ../Taurus/ (the tips of the Bull's horns), and extended 15 degrees, strikes the brilliant Betelgeuze in Orion, known as the martial star. It forms the northeast corner of a conspicious parallelogram. The splendid first-magnitude star Rigel is diagonally opposite Betelgeuze, and the girdle and sword of the Hunter lie within the parallelogram, a very striking group. The former is represented by three bright stars in a line known as the "Three Stars," because there are no other stars in the heavens that exactly resemble them in position and brightness.

In the sword there is the most remarkable nebula in the heavens. Its wonders are revealed only in a telescope. Bellatrix is called the Amazon star.

About 9 degrees west of Bellatrix are eight stars in a curved line running north and south. These point out the Lion's skin held in the Hunter's left hand.

Below Meissa there are two stars forming a triangle with it. Flammarion calls this region the California of the sky.

The celestial equator passes nearly through (δ).

Orion was worshipped in China during the one thousand years before our era, and was known to the Chinese as the "White Tiger." 98