Orion
The most recognisable constellation in the sky: three brilliant belt stars in a line, an orange shoulder and a blue-white foot. Orion is visible from almost everywhere on Earth and works as a signpost to half the winter sky.
Star chart · schematic positions
Drag to pan · dashed rings mark deep-sky objects · east is left
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Tap any labelled star in the chart to read its name, magnitude and spectral type.
Why it matters
Orion sits astride the celestial equator, so it rises high for observers in both hemispheres. It contains some of the youngest stars and most active star-forming regions in our part of the galaxy, all within the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex about 1,300 light-years away.
How to find it tonight
- 1Face south around 9 pm in January and look for three evenly spaced stars in a short, straight line.
- 2The belt points down-left to Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, and up-right to orange Aldebaran in Taurus.
- 3Betelgeuse is the orange star above the belt; Rigel is the blue-white star below it, diagonally opposite.
- 4From the southern hemisphere Orion stands high in the northern sky — but upside down, with the belt above the feet.
Brightest stars on the chart
Rigel (β Orionis) · Betelgeuse (α Orionis) · Bellatrix (γ Orionis) · Alnilam (ε Orionis)
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Figures are rounded averages from NASA, ESA and IAU reference data. Star positions on charts are schematic and approximate.