5
Orion
Bibliography/Reference
History: Percy Jackson's Greek Gods
Chapter 18 Artemis Unleashes the Death Pig
(Don't Ask! Find out that story yourself!)
Fun Facts: http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/orion
How it looks in the Sky
How it Looks: http://stardate.org/nightsky/constellations/orion
*Orion is either shown facing the charge of Taurus the bull or chasing Lepus the hare.
*Orion also has two hunting dogs represented by Canis Major and Canis Minor, two nearby constellations.
Fun Facts About Constellation
*Orion is one of the most beautiful of all constellations, and one of the easiest to find.
*Orion contains two of the ten most brightest stars in the sky -Rigel (Beta Orionis) & Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis).
*Orion also contains a number of nebulae -the Orion Nebula (M42), De Mairan's Nebula, and the Horsehead Nebula.
History of Orion
In Greek mythology, Orion was a giant that was a huntsman for Oenopion, the king of Boetia. They bargained that if Orion drove all the monsters out of the kingdom of Boetia, he will marry Oenopion's daughter, the princess, Merope. One day, Orion got drunk and got into a little trouble with Merope. After the king found out, he blinded Orion with a searing hot iron and kicked him, out of the kingdom. After wandering around Greece, he met Hephaestus, the god of blacksmiths and fire in his forge in Lemnos who had pity on him (because Hephaestus could relate to what Orion experienced about tragedy and second chances) so he made him mechanical eyes with cool night vision/targeting abilities (Just kidding!). During his years of blindness, he had sharpened his other senses. So anyway, Orion retired to Delos and met Artemis. Soon, he became the first male to join the Hunters of Artemis. He was honest about his shady past, he helped out with the chores and he kept his distance from the girls when they were bathing (after what happened to Actaeon and Sipriotes) and soon became good friends with Artemis. There was only one problem, Orion was a little too good at hunting. One day, when he was hunting by himself, he carried away. He shot sixteen bears, twelve lions, and several monsters he couldn't even name! Then he started shooting harmless stuff: birds, deer, rabbits, squirrels, and wombats. Then, he started yelling: "I will kill all the animals in the world! All of them! Die furry creatures!". Meanwhile, Gaea heard Orion screaming and muttered to herself in her sleep: "You want to kill something? Try this!". Just behind Orion, and massive scorpion emerged from the ground and when Orion turned, he got a poisonous stinger right in his chest. Later, Artemis found out and she felt bad for him so she turned him into a constellation witha scorpion (Scorpio) nearby. So I guess the moral of the story is:
Do not massacre furry creatures or you'll end up making friends with a huge scorpion!