My favorite constellation has almost always been Orion the Hunter–and I only hedge on this just a bit, because maybe there was a point when I was in first grade and just starting to learn about constellations that I preferred the Big Dipper or some such thing.
Orion is a winter constellation, and it always starts showing up in my sky around the mid-point of autumn–that is to say, it shows up at a time when I can see it around that time. It’s possible that Orion rises first at midnight or something…I don’t really know. All I do know is that the other morning I left for work and it was early enough that the stars were still visible. I glanced southward…and there was the Hunter.
And here he is, in all his glory!
By the way, I hope that once in a while you take time to stop and reflect on the fact that most of us now carry around a device on a mundane basis that is capable of astrophotography. That’s kind of amazing, isn’t it?
