Tue May 10, 2016 ORION

Of the eighty-eight official constellations in the sky, can you identify the twenty-sixth largest one? It is bordered on the north by Auriga the Charioteer and the Gemini Twins, on the south by Eridanus the River, Lepus the Hare and Monceros the Unicorn, on the west by Eridanus and Taurus again, and on the east by Gemini and Monoceros once more. Within its borders are such deep sky objects as the Horsehead nebula, plus a bright star cloud that can be seen with the unaided eye and which bears the name of this constellation. This constellation has many bright stars, including Rigel, Bellatrix and Betelgeuse, a red giant almost a billion miles across. One of the oldest star patterns, in mythology this hero was the son of the sea god Poseidon, stung on the heel by Scorpius, and shot by an arrow from the moon goddess Artemis. Can you name this star figure? The answer is Orion the Hunter, and the new crescent moon shines above it in the southwestern sky after sunset tonight.