One third of the stars in the constellation Orion are known to be binary stars. This means that they look like a single star to the eye but is actually a close pair (or sometimes even triple star!)
Below Orion's belt you can see 3 stars, which represent the giant’s sword. The middle star is, in actual fact, not a star but a nebula. The Orion Nebula is a huge cloud of dust and gas almost 6 light years across inside which new stars are being formed. It is 1500 light years distant and at the center of the nebula are four stars, known as “The Trapezium” which help light it up.
Orion is the 26th constellation in size, occupying an area of 594 square degrees. It is located in the first quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ1) and can be seen at latitudes between +85° and -75°.
Large telescopes, which do not normally distinguish stars from a point of light, show that Betelgeuse has a measurable size. Telescopes show that the star has been loosing its mass into space. It is certain that Betelgeuse has finished using hydrogen as its source of nuclear energy and is only a short time away from becoming a supernova.
Rigel, located at Orion's right foot, is the seventh brightest star in the sky. It gives off over 60,000 times more light than our Sun and is about 70 times larger in diameter. For a hot star, this is very large, indicating that Rigel is near the end of its life.