Have you ever observed a clear winter night sky? I am sure you have. So you can't have missed the Orion Constellation, one of the most charming regions in the night sky. It is home to a beautiful nursery of stars, the Orion nebula. The constellation was observed through a telescope by Galileo Galileo in 1610, probably for the first time, and described as having many more stars than what we can see with naked eyes. Through the eye piece of his new scientific equipment, a telescope whose observing capability is only comparable to the very small telescopes for sale in toys stores, he evoked a revolution of our knowledge about our Universe. By observing Orion through the glass of his equipment he could immediately see that there is much more out there in the Universe that what we can see with our naked eyes. This thought must be a teachable moment for many people. We nowadays have better equipments, far better than the one Galileo had. What can we teach the new generation by using this message?

During the month of April we will share with you images of Orion and we invite you to create ideas to share this beauty of the Universe with your students.

Some suggested activities for inspiration:

Orion with the World Wide Telescope