I’ve been working on constellation sun-catchers lately — trying to bring a little of the night sky indoors.  This constellation is Orion. Orion is described by various cultures as a giant, hunter, or warrior.  The winter constellation is easily recognized by the three stars that form his belt.  Just below the belt is the stunning Orion Nebula.  With the supergiant Betelgeuse and luminous Rigel, this is the best-known winter constellation.

In Greek and Chinese lore, Orion and Scorpius are rivals who have been positioned in the sky so that they never encounter one another.  In China, they are the brothers Shen and Shang, thus “shen shang” means “to part for good.”  For the Greeks, Scorpius was sent to slay Orion who boasted that he could kill all the animals on Earth.  So, Orion flees the sky before Scorpius arrives in the summer.

My constellations are made with crystals from old chandeliers and I hang them from a curvy bracket.  They’re delicate so they brighten a window but they don’t obstruct your view.  This one will be for sale in my Etsy shop soon.

17 May This entry was published on May 17, 2013 at 7:55 pm. It’s filed under Astronomy, Glass and tagged Astronomy, Glass, Suncatchers. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.