Orion, harbinger of winter, begins rising around midnight

The winter sky's most conspicuous constellation is now prominent in the dawn sky. 
By | Published: October 12, 2018 | Last updated on May 18, 2023
orionsbelt
This cropped photo of the Orion Constellation, taken in October 2010, clearly shows one of the world’s most recognizable asterisms — Orion’s Belt. The famous belt is made up of the bright stars Altitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.
Rogelio Bernal Andreo
The night sky’s most conspicuous harbinger of winter now rises in the east around midnight local daylight time. 

The constellation Orion the Hunter appears on its side as it rises, with ruddy Betelgeuse to the left of the three-star belt and blue-white Rigel to the belt’s right. 

As Orion climbs higher before dawn, the figure rotates so that Betelgeuse lies at the upper left and Rigel at the lower right of the constellation pattern.