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Orion Observations
Nov 30, 2003

Observations by two different individuals in Wisconsin the evening of Nov 30 would seem to place Orion closer to a Dec 15 position in the sky, for the date/time observed, than Nov 30. Since the view of star constellations during the year is determined by the placement of Earth in its orbit vs a vs the Sun, this could be accounted for by the Sun being further below the Earth, due to an Ecliptic rise, as well as the Earth moving toward the Dec 21 Solstice position where the Sun is shining predominantly on the S Pole.

Per Skymap, on Nov 30 at 8:00 PM Orion should be East, about 10° above the horizon, and at 12:00 Midnight Orion should be virtually South about 45° above the horizon.

However, the 8:00 PM observation placed Orion in the ESE location, about 25° up from the horizon and the 12:00 Midnight observation placed Orion South, about 30° up from the horizon. Both these observations line up with a Dec 15 Skymap computation, confirming the Ecliptic bump up.