Expert: Tom Whiting - 12/15/2010

Question
Please answer this question. Hou often has saturn been in the  center of orions belt.When was the last time saturn was in the center of orions belt.(relative close to the Center.)

Answer
Hi Billy,
Never does, never has, never will. Nor does any other major planet.  Because Orion is not a Zodiac constellation, so the ecliptic (the plane of the Solar System and the path of the sun, moon, and planets across our sky) does not pass through the southern constellation of Orion at all, even his up-stretched club above the Red Supergiant star Betelgeuse.
Just above (north of) Orion is Taurus, the bull... and that IS a Zodiac constellation, and that's
where all the Solar System stuff passes from west to east. On your star chart, look for Messier number 1 (M-1), the Crab Nebula in Taurus. When Saturn and the other planets are in that region,
on the ecliptic, that's as close as they can get to Orion's Belt, some 23 degrees to the south of the Crab Nebula.
I even ran my Skyglobe computer program backward and forward for 30,000 years each way, thinking precession of our axis (with a 24,800 year period) might change things, but it doesn't. 12,000 years ago (and 12,000 years from now) Orion doesn't even get above our southern horizon for northern USA, but we can see the Southern Cross due south of Scorpius and Sagittarius at that time. But precession does not change the position of the ecliptic relative to the Zodiac constellations... which makes sense because the changing movement of the Earth's axis would have no effect on the plane of the Solar System in our sky. So none of the 8 major planets, or the sun or moon, never pass through the southern constellation (area of sky) we call Orion, the Hunter.
Even if our planet Earth turned completely upside down (an impossibility) that would not change the position of the ecliptic on our night sky.
Clear skies,
Tom Whiting
Erie, PA USA