Starwatch: Orion at his evening best

A detailed look at the Hunter who rules the sky for the next few weeks, plus a brief look at the planetary year ahead and August's solar eclipse

Orion is now in prime position in everyone's evening sky. Lying across the celestial equator, with his main stars slotting neatly between 10 N and 10 S of the celestial equator, the Hunter's figure is visible from all parts of the Earth bar the central regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. I accept, of course, that most of the latter currently enjoys 24-hour daylight and is hardly the place to go for visual star-watching in January.