is it true that in december 25th, the 3 stars in orion's belt point to the star sirius and to the sun?

Question

that there is a straight line in those 3 stars, the east star sirius and to the place where the sun rises on the morning of december 25th

Answer 1

Hi Yus!

That's a fascinating question!

The correct answer is not December 25th, but May 13th.

The three stars of Orion's belt, also known as the Three Marias, always point to Sirius. The stars don't move, relative to one another, over the course of a human life time.

In the other direction, the Three Marias point toward a spot in eastern Aries. Aries is a constellation of the zodiac, which means that the sun passes through it at some time during the year. The closest date to that event happens to be May 13th.

You could not actually see the Three Marias pointing toward the sun near sunrise, by the way. That's because Orion lies east of the sun in May, so it would be below the horizon during the time the sun is coming up. You can see them pointing in the direction of the setting sun on May 13th, however. The sun sets shortly before Orion, so as soon as the stars come out you could see the line pointing toward the already-set sun.

The better view would be from the Southern Hemisphere or equatorial regions. In north temperate latitudes, Orion lies too close to the horizon and sets shortly after the sun. Further south, however, Orion is directly above the sun, with the Three Marias pointing down toward the horizon.

Answer 2

As others have pointed out, the three stars are not in a straight line, but they're "sort of" straight and they "sort of" point toward Sirius. This relationship never changes.

Since there is no real accuracy here, it would be incorrect to say that they point to the point where the sun rises on any particular date. It would be the same a week earlier or a week later, given the amount of error.

But there's a more important criticism of this claim. As Orion rises and moves across the sky, the belt stars change angle with respect to the horizon. If Orion rises at dusk and is at the meridian at midnight, the angle of those three stars has pointed to a whole range of points on the horizon, covering perhaps 45 degrees. The range of horizon doesn't change too much between then and dawn, but still there is no way to zero this down to anything like a single point.

Answer 3

Sirius is a star in the East in the evening right now. It rises at about 6:30 PM, transits at about 11:43 PM, and sets at about 4:55 AM. Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky at Magnitude -1.47 Sirius does *not* exactly align with the stars in Orion's belt at any time of the year. For that matter, the stars in Orion's belt are not in a straight line. Sirius is *close* to a line drawn through the belt, but it is a bit south of that line. On December 25th, the Sun's azimuth at sunrise was 118 deg, 54' 37". When Sirius rose on December 24th it was at 110 deg, 53' 46". As the night progresses, it gets worse, pointing at a point on the horizon further and further south of the sunrise. A line drawn through the belt of Orion and Sirius does not point to the sunrise position on Dec 25th at any point that I can see.

Answer 4

The belt stars always point roughly at Sirius. In December, the Sun and Orion are on opposite sides of the sky, so I don't think you can say the belt points at the Sun. The Sun rises considerably to the south of Orion or Sirius in December also, so I don't think the belt stars and Sirius ever point at the location of the sunrise. Orion rises with the belt nearly perpendicular to the horizon, a line through them to the eastern horizon will be well north of December 25th sunrise.

Answer 5

The three belt stars in Orion _always_ point to Sirius, every night. But you can't say they point to where the Sun will rise, because they point in different directions all night, and the Sun rises in different locations on the horizon in different places in the world.

Despite one answer, Mars will NOT be closest to the Earth on Christmas day. It will be closest to the Earth on December 19: 88 million km.

Answer 6

i think its pretty close

dec 25, the Sun should be at :

-23.3 degrees

18.4h

if you look at a map, the vague line those four stars make intersects the ecliptic somewhere between 30 and 60 degrees.

hey, thats closer than I expected!

(for an urban myth)

Answer 7

no. the 3 stars in orions belt are never in a straight line. have you never seen it?

Answer 8

Not true.
But here is something that is true for that date. Mars will be at his closest to Earth on Christmas Day.

Answer 9

In Bethlehem they do

Answer 10

No