Orion is my favorite winter constellation. He's easy to find even in the city, and a good start to learning your way around the stars.
Click on "Read more" to learn how to spot Orion.
In the winter, you can spot Orion in the southern sky, moving from west to east. You might not spot him right after sunset, but by 8 or 9 p.m., when the sky is good and dark, look to the south and he should be high overhead. The stars seem brighter in the cold winter nights, when there is less moisture in the air to scatter the light.
Look for the three stars that mark his belt, then look for the bright Betelgeuse and Rigel, two of the brightest stars in the sky. If your eyesight is good and the night is clear, you might be able to discern a reddish or orangey tint to Betelgeuse, which is a red supergiant star.
Scientists are uncertain exactly how big Betelguese is, because they are not sure how far away it is. It is probably about 500 to 1,000 times as big as our Sun, and over 10 million years old.
Rigel is a blue supergiant, about 17 times as big as our sun, but it shines about 85,000 times as bright.
Find your southern sky, and look for Orion. It's nice to know he's up there, watching over us, on these cold winter nights.
Coming soon: How to use Orion as a starting point to identify several other features in the winter sky.
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