Let’s have a bit of fun, I hope :). We can look at what a star chart is. I can show you what the sky will look like and how the chart fits. I’d like you to go outside and see if you can see the Orion Nebula and I will publish a picture of it in the coming days.

Chart

The star chart below is of the Orion Constellation. It only takes a bit of imagination to see Orion’s torso, his belt, and his knee-length tunic. What is not drawn in this diagram is the slayed lion in his outstretched arm to the right and his weapon, with a raised arm to the left. I find it interesting how many civilizations, from all over the globe have embraced this constellation in their own ways. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)

Charts are usually presented such that, as drawn, when held up in front of you, up-is-up. What I mean to say is, you don’t have to flip or rotate it to compare to the sky you see.

Freestarcharts https://freestarcharts.com/messier-42

There is one more part to the constellation to imagine. His sword is directly below the center star in his belt and what we are looking for is the Orion Nebula, which is the central object in the compact line of three objects of the sword.

Night Sky

Below, is the view of the sky you should see in Ottawa, 19^th January, at or about 10PM. This is a south facing view. The position of the moon will be very different after the 19^th, be careful not to get misguided. On progressing days the moon will retreat off to the left quite quickly.

Orion should be nicely present, front and center stage.

In Stockholm, below, on the 19^th, at or around 9PM a similar southern sky happens. Orion will be lower to the horizon because Stockholm is a bit more north than Ottawa.

Finally, from Auckland New Zealand, things look quite different. Instead of looking south, Orion is in the north, and is upside down compared to our view in the Northern hemisphere. It is easy to think that the way things appear are the same for all, but it is not so.

Seeing it

The Orion Nebula is that center area of light in what should appear as three bright areas of the sword. Unlike many objects, it can be seen without visual aids (aside from a clear dark night). It is a very bright object and it is BIG, almost 1degree across, twice the size of a full moon.

A pair of binoculars will net you a view similar to what is shown below, and the red circle below is probably similar to your binoculars. I suspect you will be able to make out the shape of the nebula.

Colour, where is the colour,…

This is one of the disappointing things you learn soon after you buy your first telescope. Our eyes are not that good at seeing colour at such low light levels. It has something to do with rods and cones in our eyes, and the colour seeing cones are not as sensitive as the rods that perceive black and white. Seeing colour is almost exclusively the work of the cameras we put on our telescopes.

Another interesting thing is, the center vision area of our eyes is dominated by these less sensitive cones compared to the periphery where rods dominate. I guess, as a species we care more about the colour of things we directly look at. Or, if something is creeping in from the side to eat us in the dark, we really don’t care what colour it is! What all this means is, if you look away from the nebula you may be able to see more of it. It takes a bit of practice to do this but its worth a try.

Related to boosting your vision, taking good deep breaths will help your eyes get all the oxygen they need but this is probably best done alone.

It takes about twenty minutes for your eyes to get their night vision and most any light will shut them down rather quickly, but not red light. I do not know the reason why red light is so less disruptive to our night vision. Perhaps that is why lights on the back of cars are red.

Adrien