Orion – the signpost to the summer sky

The stars of Orion, drawn by Nick Lomb

Ross asked about the names of the stars in the constellation of Orion, which is the stand-out constellation in the southern hemisphere summer sky.

The stars all have Bayer names which involve greek letters and the genetive (possessive) form of the constellation, that is Orionis in the case of Orion and meaning ‘of Orion’.

The brighter stars also have common names, that generally come from the Arabic. A few examples taken from the book ‘Star names and their meanings’ by RH Allen are given below:

Betelgeuse degenerated from a phrase meaning ‘the armpit of the central one’ and so describes the position of the star in relation to a drawing of the constellation figure.

Rigel – the left leg

Mintaka – the belt

Alnilam – the string of pearls

Alnitak – the girdle

Orion is currently high in the north-west in the early evening. Happy observing!