Orion”Down fell the red skin of the lion Into the river at his feet. His mightyclub no longer beat The forehead of the bull; but he Reeled as of yore besidethe sea, When blinded by Oenopion He sought the blacksmith at his forge, Andclimbing up the narrow gorge, Fixed his blank eyes upon the sun.
” ~The”Occultation of Orion” by Mr. Longfellow~ This poem was written aboutthe Greek myth of Orion. The story says that Orion, the son of Neptune, was ahandsome giant and a mighty hunter. His father gave him the power of wadingthrough the depths of the sea, or, as others would say, walking on its surface. Orion loved Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, king of Chios, and sought her inmarriage. He cleared the island of wild beasts, and brought the spoils of thechase as presents to his beloved; but as Oenopion constantly deferred hisconsent, Orion attempted to gain possession of the maiden by violence.
Herfather, incensed at this conduct, having made Orion drunk, deprived him of hissight and cast him out on the seashore. The blinded hero followed the sound, ofa Cyclops’ hammer till he reached Lemnos, and came to the forge ofVulcan(Hephaestus), who, taking pity on him, gave him Kedalion, one of his mento be his guide to the abode of the sun. Placing Kedalion on his shoulders,Orion proceeded to the east, and there meeting the sun-god(Helios) was restoredto sight by his beam. After this he dwelt as a hunter with Diana(Artemis), withwhom he was a favorite, and it was even said she was about to marry him.
Herbrother was highly displeased and often chid with her, but for no purpose. Oneday, observing Orion wading through the sea with his head just above the water,Apollo pointed it out to his sister and maintained that she could not hit thatblack thing on the sea. The archer-goddess discharged a shaft with fatal aim. The waves rolled the dead body of Orion to the land, and bewailing her fatalerror with many tears, Diana placed him among the stars, where he appears as agiant, with a girdle, sword, lion’s skin, and club. Sirius, his dog, followshim, and the Pleiads fly before him.
Orion, the brightest constellation in thesky, is easy to find if you look for the three bright stars that make up Orion’sbelt. Once you have found this distinctive pattern, two other very bright starswill help you define the rest of the constellation. The first star, Betelgeuse,is located at Orion’s right shoulder. The second, Rigel, is at his lower left. Orion is the great hunter, aiming his arrow and holding his club over his head.
His sword hangs from his belt. In the area of this sword are found a number ofvery exciting star formation regions, including the Great Nebula of Orion. Thenebula is visible with the unaided eye, as a smudge about halfway down hissword. The Great Nebula of Orion(star M42) is one of the most photographedobjects in the sky.
This area is a collection of gas and dust where stars arebeing born. The central bright star that is illuminating the gaseous cloud isactually four stars known as the Trapezium. The nebula itself is one of thenearest star formations at only about 1,500 light years away. It has formedstars recently, only 300,000 years ago. In Orion many of the stars havedifferent colors, colors tell us about a star’s temperature, composition, age,size, and distance from us.
Red stars are generally older, cooler stars thathave used up much of their hydrogen fuel. Blue stars are generally younger andhotter. Most of these stars are blue, with the exception of the very red star,Betelgeuse. Betelgeuse is a red supergiant, Rigel is a blue supergiant. The redstreak in the sword area is the Orion Nebula. Orion is located in the celestialequator and Orion’s outstretched upper arm is located in the Milky Way.
Orion isfollowed by two hunting dogs at his right. One of these, Canis Major, containsthe brightest star in the sky. This star, Sirius, is located just where thedog’s neck meets his body. Sirius should help you find Orion, and Orion is alsoshooting at Taurus the Bull.
