Picture of the Day: Orion Constellation

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Orion, harbinger of winter, begins rising around midnight
Richard Talcott | Published: Friday, October 12, 2018

The winter sky's most conspicuous constellation is now prominent in the dawn sky.


This cropped photo of the Orion Constellation, taken in October 2010, clearly shows one of the world's most recognizable
asterisms — Orion's Belt. The famous belt is made up of the bright stars Altitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.Rogelio Bernal Andreo

The night sky’s most conspicuous harbinger of winter now rises in the east around midnight local daylight time. The constellation Orion the Hunter appears on its side as it rises, with ruddy Betelgeuse to the left of the three-star belt and blue-white Rigel to the belt’s right.

As Orion climbs higher before dawn, the figure rotates so that Betelgeuse lies at the upper left and Rigel at the lower right of the constellation pattern.