Orion: now rising before the Sun

Event Date: July 20th
Time: 5:30 AM


Brief

   Orion is starting to make a return in the eastern sky, giving us our first chance to see some of its stars since mid-spring.  The belt's stars rise vertically as seen from mid-northern latitudes, with further-north Betelgeuse slightly earlier, and southern Rigel, later.  When we saw Orion setting during the spring evenings, Rigel was the first to go, followed by Betelgeuse.  This is similar to how we will see Altair setting before Vega and Deneb for the Summer Triangle later this season, although it is the last to rise.  As shown below in the first image, I will put the celestial grid in to further show the declinations of the stars. 

Detailed

   The furthest west star, Mintaka, is less 1/2º from the celestial equator.  When we start seeing this star all night long in the fall, it will nearly trace out the equator with its local path.  In the zoom-in shown below, I label it and the other belt stars as well.  Mintaka was the first to rise, and the celestial equator shows slightly north of it.  The zoom in is 4x.
   Looking at the belt's stars relative to the equator, it is often mentioned that it is the asterism that "splits the sky".  When viewing the constellation of Orion from the same latitude south, as I did from an Australian location during the spring two times, not only would Orion appear upside down; he would rise at a different angle.  Instead of from his side, he would rise feet first, and the head would be seen later.  Staying with our hemisphere and latitude, here are the stars shown below.  I will label more stars when Orion is easier and higher to see in this part of the sky at the end of the month.

click on images to enlarge: courtesy of Starry Night Pro Plus, version 6.4.3, by Simulation Curriculum Corp.