I have a question about the position of Orion.

After reading my qiestion, please forgove me if I am naive about it. I just really never noticed something, and don't really know.

I used to frequent a bar on a nearly every Friday/Saturday night basis. Every tiem I would go outside to smoke, I would always eventually look at the stars. I most always could see Orion, and its belt was always vertical.

Tonight however, it was horizontle.

My question is, is Orion sometimes vertical, and sometimes horizontle, or is something wrong with the position of Orion right now? Because honeslty, I've never seen it laying horizontle befor.

Thank you in advance.

Originally posted by BrnBdry
My question is, is Orion sometimes vertical, and sometimes horizontle, or is something wrong with the position of Orion right now? Because honeslty, I've never seen it laying horizontle befor.

Absolutely.
As it rises, moves across the sky and sets on the other side of the sky, it does a 180 degree turn.
Just the hand on a clock.

So does the moon, but almost nobody ever notices.


Edit - technically speaking IT doesnt actually do anything. Its really you, standing on a turning earth that is viewing the sky from a different orientation as time goes by.

reply to post by BrnBdry

Have you had too much to drink? Are you laying down? Is the sky spinning?
Sorry, couldn't resist. I have no answers for you.

Alfa1's got it. Here, try this experiment:

Hold your right arm out in front of you with the palm out and your fingers parallel to the ground (i.e. thumb is on the bottom, pinky is on top). This represents Orion rising on its side.

Rotating only your shoulder, sweep your arm upward to represent Orion rising as the Earth turns. Note that the higher in the sky you go, the more up-and-down your fingers (and Orion) are.

Keep rotating your arm until once again your fingers are parallel to the ground. Notice now that your thumb is on top and your pinky is on the bottom.

So Orion appears on one side when it is rising in the east, on the other side when it is setting in the west, and vertical (with the head north & legs south) when it is half-way in between.

Yes the dashboard of our horizons are curved
when the view is into the solar system.
Excellent observation.


David Grouchy

Of course, the fun reality is that it's not really Orion or the sky that's spinning - it's you (and the Earth you're sitting on).

Imagine you go to a party in someone's backyard at 9pm. It's a great one that goes on 'til 3am. In those 6 hours the Earth has rotated 90 degrees. Maybe you stayed sober, but your body has tipped all the way over on its side (along with the yard, the house, the town, etc.) since the party began.

So really, Orion didn't turn on its side, you did.

But wait! There's more...

It is now October, and you just saw Orion rising in the east (on its side) at around midnight.
If you go out at the same time of night in January, you will see Orion standing vertically in the south (I notice your in Massachusetts), just as though it would be if you had watched it rise for 6 hours. That is because 3 months will have passed, and in that time the Earth has moved 90 degrees around the Sun. Each night, beween now and then, you will see Orion (and all the other constellations) rise just a little bit earlier than it did the night before.

There are 12 months in a year and 24 hours in a day. Thus, for every two weeks that pass, your favorite star or constellation will rise ~1 hour earlier. That is why, at the same time of night, you see different constellations in the sky during different times of the year.