Orion's Belt

The constellation Orion is named after the hunter Orion of Greek mythology, a name commonly used in Western culture and professional astronomy. When the constellation is backed with a pictorial representation of the hunter, the stars of Orion's belt mark the belt of his clothing.

In medieval Europe, the row of these three stars was also called Jacob's staff or Jacob's ladder.

In Spain, Portugal and South America as a Catholic cultural area, the name Tres Marías or Três Marias ("Three Marys") is also common.

Bordering the constellation Orion are the constellations Gemini, Taurus, River Eridanus, Lepus and Monoceros. The latter three are closest to Orion's belt.

The prominent constellation of belt stars in Orion has a position very close to the celestial equator - the amounts of declination are below 2°. Therefore, for observers on Earth, except in the areas near the poles, the belt stars are completely above the horizon for just under twelve hours every day. In the evening starry sky they are easily observable in the last and first quarter of the year, i.e. in Central Europe from late autumn until the beginning of spring.

Alnilam, the middle one, is apparently and also absolutely the brightest of the three belt stars. In terms of its spherical coordinates, it lies almost exactly midway between the asterisms of the outer two. The western belt star Mintaka (the right one for observers in the northern hemisphere) lies only ¼ degree south of the celestial equator; due to the precession of the Earth's axis, this angle temporarily becomes zero around the year 2080.

For observers in central European latitudes, the line of the Orion belt appears approximately perpendicular to the horizon at its rising and nearly parallel to the horizon at its setting.