Bob Moler's Ephemeris Blog

Ephemeris for Monday, December 23rd.  The sun will rise at 8:17.  It’ll be up for 8 hours and 49 minutes, setting at 5:06.   The moon, 2 days before last quarter, will rise at 11:29 this evening.

The large and bright constellation of Orion is now in the southeast at 9 p.m.  It is seen as an upright rectangle of bright stars tilting to the left, his shoulders and knees, with a belt of three stars in the center.  Orion is a minor character in Greek mythology, much less celebrated than Hercules, which has a dim constellation named for him.  Orion was a hunter.  He had an ill-fated romance with Merope, whose father King Oenopion, had him blinded.  After having his sight restored, Orion became a companion of Diana goddess of the hunt and they wanted to marry.  Apollo, Diana’s brother disapproved of Orion also and was able to trick Diana into accidentally killing Orion with her bow.  Another story had Orion dying of a scorpion sting.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Taurus and Orion with Orion’s brightest stars named. Created using Stellarium.