Scorpius as depicted in Urania's Mirror, a set of constellation cards published in London c.1825.

Have you ever wondered why the Orion Nebula has a sword and a belt? Hmm, who uses a sword? A warrior! But what could this warrior be fighting in the sky?

Orion is they mythological warrior and hunter who was friends with the goddess Artemis. They would hunt together and have many adventures. Pretty cool deal to go hunting with a goddess, huh?

Unfortunately for Orion, he developed a really bad attitude. He thought that since he was such a good hunter that he should go and kill every animal on earth! Not cool at all.

Orion boasted of his plans to Artemis, which wasn’t very smart. I mean, Artemis is the protector of animals. Did he really think she’d say, “Wow! That’s great — let’s do it!” Needless to say, Artemis wasn’t happy about his plans and decided that something should be done with Orion.

As punishment for his prideful boasting (also known as “hubris”) Artemis and her mother Leto sent a scorpion to deal with Orion. Who do you think will win? Orion had his sword and skills, but the Scorpion has that nasty sting in his curved tail. And, don’t forget those scary claws! If you look in the sky you can even see his blood red heart (also known as the star named Antares). It looks like Orion has his work cut out for him!

The pair battled fiercely and eventually the Scorpion killed Orion. The battle must have been pretty spectacular and caught the attention of  Zeus, king of the gods and Artemis’ dad. Zeus liked a good fight and decided to raise the scorpion to heaven. Sometime later Artemis asked her father to also do the same for Orion to serve as a reminder for mortals to curb their excessive pride.

Orion and the Scorpion never made up from their fight, so every winter Orion hunts in the sky, but every summer he flees as the constellation of the Scorpion comes. As September ends, the Scorpion is almost down in the southwest, in a little time Orion will rise due east.

Can you see Orion approaching?