The great constellation of Orion the Hunter is high in the South East sky by 9:30pm Eastern time shining down on us. Orion is one of the most distinct constellations in our sky featuring 3 evenly spaced stars in the center of the hunter marking his belt. Inside of his belt lies the diffuse nebula of M42 or the Orion Nebula.
Under suburban skies on a moonless night, this nebula can be seen with no astronomical aid except for your eyes. If you add binoculars to this object you can begin to pickup nice color and details of the wavy gas and particles that make up this magnificent object.
The winter months are prime viewing for Orion. It is high in the sky early and is very easy to spot. Note the image below, you see the three bright stars in the center and the box indicates where M42 is located.
The bright 0.58 magnitude star of Betelgeuse in Orion marks its upper left shoulder. This is a nice star to observe through a pair of binoculars as well. It gives off a very nice color and can be seen naked eye so it easy to spot. Betelgeuse is about 10 million years old and it is 640 light-years away from Earth.