The bright asterism of Orion is one of the better-known star patterns on the sky. The three stars across the middle of this image constitute the belt. Bright red Betelgeuse is a shoulder star at upper left here and bright blue Rigel is a leg star at lower right. The Great Nebula, a region of recent star formation, is often depicted as Orion's sword, seen here as part of three distinct objects stretching to the right of and below the bottom star in the belt.