Orion

Went for this as a simple safety for the WBC theme of 'Night scene' this month. I'll send you into a snooze with some facts.

Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Saiph and Rigel make up the arms and legs, plus we have Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka on the belt. Betelgeuse is a youngster, a red giant of perhaps only 10 million years old. She could blow at any point, well, in celestial terms that means any time in the next million years.

The other prominent feature is of course the Orion nebula, M42. The closest region of massive star formation to us, around 1300 light years away. Just think, the light from it left on it's journey here around 712AD when the likes of the venerable Bede was sitting in Jarrow, scribbling away for history.