Fig. 22.—Orion the Mighty Hunter.
These three stars form the Belt of Orion, for a mighty hunter must needs have a belt, and this belt of bright stars is one of the best known groups in the whole sky. Across the belt and nearly at right angles to it pin three small stars; these small stars form the sword or dagger of the fanciful hunter but they are of more use to us than to him, as will be seen presently.
At the top of the star chart pin the North Star so that it will be in a direct line with the three small stars forming the Sword of Orion. Your star chart of Orion is now ready to be compared with the one in the sky. The best time to find Orion is in January about 9 o’clock, when the constellation is high in the southern sky, though he may be seen shining in all his glory all winter long.
On taking your star chart out-of-doors hold it overhead just as you did in finding the Great Square of Pegasus; now look toward the south until your eyes rest on the equator running across the southern sky from east to west and you will see the mighty Orion, though you may not recognize the lion skin he holds.
Having found Orion draw an imaginary line through the three small stars called his sword and produce this line until it meets the North Star. Once you have found Orion you will never again require the help of a star chart to locate him, but it is a good plan to look him up as often as you can, and to draw the imaginary line through his sword and on to the North Star, for should you ever lose your way or want to find the north and the North Star should be hidden by clouds a line through the Sword of Orion when Orion is in the south will direct you as certainly as the needle of a compass. [Fig. 22] shows the fabulous Orion as a giant hunter holding the skin of a lion which he killed, according to Arabian star-lore.
Fig. 23.—Constellation of Auriga.
Fig. 24.—Auriga the Shepherd.
Auriga, the Charioteer or Shepherd.—After finding Orion the constellation of Auriga (pronounced Aw-re´-ga) will get right in your way so that you cannot by any chance miss it. This is because the chief star in Auriga and whose name is Capella (pronounced Ca-pel´-la) lies nearly on the line drawn through the Sword of Orion and produced to the North Star as shown in [Figs. 21], [23] and [27].