Orion Returns

As if Thanksgiving dinner, endless football, and cool autumn days weren’t enough, the night sky offers one more treat to look forward to at this time of year: the return of Orion, the hunter, to prime viewing time. Tonight, it climbs into good view in the east by around 9 or 9:30.
Orion is perhaps the most beautiful of all the constellations. It’s certainly one of the easiest to pick out, thanks to its “belt” of three stars, which points almost straight up from the horizon as the hunter rises.
Off to the left of the belt is Orion’s orange shoulder — the star Betelgeuse. And to the right of the belt is the hunter’s blue-white heel — the star Rigel. Both of them are supergiants — stars that are much larger, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. And both are destined to end their lives with titanic explosions.
Some other heavy stars are taking shape in a region that’s about half-way between Rigel and Orion’s Belt — the Orion Nebula. To the eye alone, it looks like a faint, murky smudge of l