In last week’s Starwatch, I told you about the astronomical wonders of my favorite constellation Orion the Hunter, what I call the godfather of the sky!

As soon as it’s dark enough it will be there, resembling a giant crooked bow tie or a tilted hourglass, rising in the southeastern Butler sky. The three bright stars in a perfect row that make up Orion’s belt really jump out at you.

While Orion the Hunter is certainly rich astronomically, the mythological legend of the mighty hunter is equally as rich.

Many different cultures have their own story of this ancient constellation. My favorite tale evolves from Greek mythology and involves Artemis, the goddess of moon.

Orion was a big brawny man who lived for hunting and fishing. Like most of the critters and beasts he hunted, Orion was nocturnal. He stalked and hunted by night and slept under a giant tree by day.

He was also a bit of a hermit who didn’t like to mix with other people or the local conservation enforcement officers, who took exception with his nocturnal hunting practices. So he moved to a large but deserted island where he could hunt and fish unabated.

Orion was living his solitary dream! Every night he was out there slaying beasts of all kinds.

Unbeknown to him, Orion also had a secret admirer. She was Artemis, the goddess of the moon.

Just like a present day spy satellite, Artemis did aerial reconnaissance on Orion as she guided her magic moon chariot across the sky, pulled by flying horses.

The more she spied on Orion, the more she longed to be with the mighty hunter. Leaping down and hanging out was a risky proposition, though, that would get her in a lot of trouble with her father Zeus, the king of the gods. Not only would she be ignoring her duties as moon goddess, but she would also be mixing with a mortal and that was taboo!

So night after night she struggled, stranded in the sky with the moon and those silly flying horses, denied the pleasure of Orion’s company. But one night she just couldn’t take it anymore!

As Orion was cleaning up on a whole herd of wild boars, she yelled whoa to the horses and headed on down to Orion’s island. Finally, she met him eye-to-eye and toe-to-toe.

As she hoped, it was love at first sight. Orion quickly gave up on the hermit thing after one look at the goddess. Right away, she changed out her royal robes and put on hunter’s camouflage. She hunted with him the rest of the night, but when dawn approached she jumped back up to the moon chariot and raced it to the horizon.

The next night she halted the moon in mid-sky again and joined her new love for another night of hunting, jumping back on her chariot at dawn.

This taboo love affair went on for some time. Orion and Artemis were very much in love, but clearly Artemis was in the wrong!

Eventually Zeus found out about his daughter’s behavior from Apollo, the god of the sun and Artemis’ brother. What a snitch! What a tattletale!

Zeus had to stop this affair, but he didn’t want to lose the love of his daughter. So the king of the gods came up with a plan. He had a hit put out on Orion. He wanted Orion killed but wanted it to look like an accident.

Zeus arranged for a giant scorpion to be dropped on Orion’s island and to fatally sting the hunter in his daytime slumber, killing off his daughter’s elicit love interest!

The day of Orion’s scorpion encounter arrived. As Orion slept off another night of successful hunting with Artemis, the scorpion crawled into his camp.

Fortunately, Orion was just about to get up and make a visit to his outhouse. Orion had a couple of his homemade beers before he went to bed that had caught up with him.

Orion bolted up as the scorpion attacked. What followed was a battle that went on for hours and hours.

As evening set in the hunter had the scorpion in a headlock and had just about broken its neck. The scorpion, down to its last gasp, managed to break out of the hunter’s hold and sting Orion’s neck. In a few minutes it was all over for our hunter.

That night, Artemis made the grizzly discovery that her boyfriend met his match. She looked around and saw the oversized and aggressive scorpion still in Orion’s camp.

Artemis put two and two together and took action. As the killer scorpion made its retreat, the moon goddess grabbed it by the tail and flung it so far into the sky that it became the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion.

Artemis then returned to the slain Orion and wept over him for hours and hours. Finally, she cradled his body into her arms and flew off to the sky. When she was high enough she gently tossed Orion a little higher in the sky, magically transforming him into a bright constellation.

Artemis wanted her dearly departed partner in the sky with her.

She also made sure that Orion was on the opposite side of the sky from the scorpion that assassinated him. That’s why we never see the constellations Orion and Scorpius in the sky at the same time.

As soon as Orion rises in the east, the scorpion sets in the west and vice versa. That’s also why Orion is a winter constellation and Scorpius rides the summer evening sky.

Celestial hugging

On Tuesday morning, see if you can spot Venus just to the lower left of the thin waning crescent moon in the very low southeast sky about 45 minutes before sunrise.

Venus is only 28 million miles away and through a small telescope or pair of binoculars appears as a very thin crescent. Go for it early morning risers!

Mike Lynch is an amateur astronomer and professional broadcast meteorologist for WCCO Radio in Minneapolis/St. Paul and is author of the book, “Stars, a Month by Month Tour of the Constellations” published by Adventure Publications and available at bookstores and at www.adventurepublications.net.