By Domenica Di Piazza, Editorial Director, TFCB

I’ve had my head in the clouds lately, reading a lot of material about outer space. It’s galaxies and nebulae that particularly intrigue me, and I recently learned that you can easily pick out the Orion Nebula in the sword of the Orion constellation just below the three stars of Orion’s belt (see photo at left). The Orion Nebula is the slightly brighter light below the middle of the three belt stars in the photo, and it represents a sort of star-making factory.

Orion (named after a hunter in Greek mythology) is visible in my part of the world generally in the borderlands between the southeastern/southwestern part of the sky once it gets dark. It’s always been one of my favorite constellations because it’s so easy to pick out in the sky, even in urban areas. Just look for those characteristic three stars, and bingo, you’re there!

Take a look tonight in your backyard and see if you can pick it out. And don’t forget to check in next week for more from TFCB.

[photo: CC/courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]