Orion

by Sinead O'Kitty

I chose to write my essay on the constellation Orion, because it’s my mama’s favorite one, and because we can see it all winter here in Maine when we look out our back window. Orion rises every winter, and it’s one of the most recognizable constellations in the northern hemisphere. Orion is named after a character in Greek mythology, a hunter, and if you look at the constellation, you see shoulders and hips, divided by three stars in a straight line that are Orion’s “belt.” He is accompanied by his two faithful dogs, the constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor. The excellent website that Kitty the Great gave as a reference about the stars also pointed out that there are three very faint stars that hang down from Orion’s belt like a sword. Orion was in love with Merope, one of the seven Sisters of the constellation Pleiades, but she spurned him. Eventually he was killed by stepping on a scorpion (the constellation Scorpius). The gods felt bad for him and honored his life by placing him and his two faithful dogs in the sky as constellations. There are many interesting connections between the constellation Orion and the ancient Egyptians. For one thing, if you view the three great pyramids at Giza, they are arranged exactly like the three stars in Orion’s belt—the proportions are exact, too. Ancient civilizations timed many of their harvesting activities on when Orion rose in the night sky. For example, when Orion rose at midnight, it was time to harvest grapes, a morning rising meant summer was here, and an evening rising meant winter had arrived. Since Orion is high in the sky during the coldest, darkest time here in Maine, we don’t think we’ll harvest any grapes, but we do recognize it as one of our primary winter constellations.