[andyfox]

The constellations are an accident of how the stars happen to line up from one among an infinity of possible points of view. For example, the principal star of Orion, Sirius, is 8.6 light years from Earth. But the stars of the belt are approximately 1,500 light-years away.

The belt is an accident of perspective. From other parts of space these three stars would form a triangle or their order would be reversed. From just the right angle, all three of them would merge in a single light, an apparent triple star. Were you in the center of the space that the three stars enclosed, each would appear in a far-flung corner of the sky.