Orion (The Hunter) is not visible all year long. It appears for about five months of the year then disappears below the horizon. Out of the 15 brightest stars in the sky, Orion has two of them: Betelgeuse and Rigel. Betelgeuse, at the shoulder of Orion, swells and shrinks over about six months. The other star is Rigel, which means the foot. This star is about 900 light years away, but it still glows brightly. That is because Rigel is 80 times larger than the sun and 25 times more massive. Orion's belt is three stars. Hanging from his belt is his sword. Half way down the sword it gets fuzzy. That is his nebula, which is an immense cloud of gas and dust, which inside has many stars forming.
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