Pennsylvania State Grange Heritage Quilt Trail

​PA Farm Show Scavenger Hunt

​Question 2

Ancient People used Orion The Hunter Constellation to predict what?

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​The Hunter's Star

​Thousands of years ago, people spent hours gazing at the night sky. They found that by connecting the stars as if they were dots, patterns emerged that resembled animals, people, and things. Today, we call star patterns constellations. Eventually, 88 star patterns were identified. The patterns helped people navigate on land and by sea as well as tell time, appearing in different parts of the sky depending on the day and year. (The stars don’t move. Earth moves, rotating on its axis once every 24 hours and revolving around the Sun once every year.)
ORION, THE HUNTER  CONSTELLATION                                                                                                                                                                This is easiest to find in the winter.  Look for three bright stars in a line—these are Orion’s belt.  
The two stars north of this are Orion’s shoulders. One of Orionthese is Betelgeuse (“BEETLE-juice”), which is a giant red star. The two brighter stars to the south are his legs.
Ancient people used Orion to predict the seasons: If it appeared at midnight, the grapes were ready to harvest. If it appeared in the morning, summer was beginning. If it appeared in the evening, winter had arrived. (Boeckmann, 2019).

Reference: Boeckmann, C. (2019). The Old Farmer's Almanac. Retrieved from https://www.almanac.com/content/stargazing-finding-stars-and-constellations     

 Photo credit:NASA).