Night of the Hunter: A Deep Dive into Orion

This week we slow down and spend the night with one of the sky’s most iconic constellations: Orion. We'll use the mighty hunter as a guide, learning how his stars can point the way to other landmarks in the winter sky, from blazing Sirius to Aldebaran and the Pleiades.

Along the way, we explore Orion’s rich mythology, his role in ancient cultures, and the remarkable deep-sky objects hidden within his outline, including stellar nurseries, dark nebulae, and the vast structures shaping this region of the Milky Way.

We also journey back thousands of years to ancient Egypt to examine the intriguing and controversial Orion Correlation Theory, which suggests a connection between the cosmos and the pyramids of Giza. What does the evidence really say, and why does Orion continue to draw humans into stories that link sky and stone?

To round out the episode, we’ll check in on the night sky for January 11–17, including the Moon’s phase, visible planets, and observing highlights, plus a look at recent space news featuring the discovery of a mysterious “failed galaxy” known as Cloud-9.

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