This month, a prominent group of stars is easy to find just after sunset.
This constellation is Orion, the hunter. Orion is easily recognized by its “belt” of three bright stars. With a little bit of imagination, one finds stars for the head, a shoulder, a club, two feet, and a sword kept beneath the belt.
Some constellations are visible only from northern latitudes, others only from southern latitudes. A few constellations can be seen from any place on Earth. Orion is one of these. For northerners, Orion stands in the southern part of the sky. For southerners, Orion is in the northern sky. For those on the equator, the hunter will be directly overhead. For the few people who visit the poles, half of Orion is just above the horizon, and the other half is just below the horizon.
If a northerner and a southerner are looking at Orion, they will be facing each other. In the north, the hunter figure will be “right side up”, with the head higher than the feet. In the south, our hunter is “upside down”. (These discussions assume that Orion is viewed just after sunset in March.)
(more next week)
Real Simple Astronomy 