Orion

Orion's Belt

Three Kings, Three Marys

skylore / traditional name · medium confidence

Mintaka, Alnilam, and Alnitak form the straight belt that makes Orion unmistakable. The line points down toward Sirius and up toward Aldebaran.

Finder context

Use the nearby bright stars to locate the gold box, then move to the larger chart for the pattern itself.

Framing: Approximate member-star span: 2.7°; use at least 3.8° field for context.

Start with the unaided eye. Suburban skies usually show the main stars.

Binoculars are optional: use them to check colours, nearby doubles, or richer Milky Way background.

A telescope is usually too narrow for the whole shape; use it after the pattern has guided you to a target.

Frame a 5° field around Orion to include the pattern and its nearby stars.

Set your location and date to see a useful window, peak altitude, sky visibility, and Moon conditions. Use Month to compare the season ahead.

Latitude 50°NLongitude -114°Date Month Sky darkness Bortle 4 · limit V 6.1

Bortle class rates night-sky brightness. The atlas counts a pattern as recognisable when at least 70% of its defining stars are visible.

Bortle 3: 3/3 stars — fully visibleBortle 5: 3/3 stars — fully visibleBortle 7: 3/3 stars — fully visible

For 50°N in the best month, green dates mark at least two hours with the pattern above 20° and the Moon below the horizon.

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Name	Bayer / Flamsteed	HR	RA J2000	Dec J2000	V mag
Alnilam	46Eps Ori	HR 1903	05^h 36^m 12.8^s	−01° 12′ 07″	1.70
Alnitak	50Zet Ori	HR 1948	05^h 40^m 45.5^s	−01° 56′ 34″	2.05
Mintaka	34Del Ori	HR 1852	05^h 32^m 00.4^s	−00° 17′ 57″	2.23

skylore / traditional name; medium confidence. Traditional or folk name recorded in older star-name literature.

Bright Star Catalogue, 5th Revised Ed.: Hoffleit, D. & Warren, W.H. Jr. (1991). Positions, V magnitudes, Bayer/Flamsteed identifiers. source
Star Names and Their Meanings: Allen, R.H. (1899). Public-domain skylore and traditional names.
The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues: ESA SP-1200 (1997). Used as the modern astrometric reference named by the atlas; the MVP pages expose BSC5 J2000 fields for the plotted bright-star members.