Orion is currently my favourite constillation for all the beautiful features mentioned but mainly because of 'a Ori' or Betelgeuse, the star that forms the upper left shoulder / hand of the hunter. Its a red supergiant, 427 light years away and with a diameter 800 times that of the sun. Its huge - and Its is visible to the naked eye as a twinkling red star, as its magnatude varies alot. Its size, instability and its late stage in stellar evolution (despite being a relatively young star) makes it the prime candidate out of all the stars in our galaxy to go supernova, as we are well overdue one (on average each galaxy experiences one supernova every century - our last was Keplar's S/N, a type Ia that went in 1604!).
When it does blow its thankfully just far away enough to not cause us any grief, but it will look spectacular, becoming brighter than the moon and easily visable in the day time. According to the experts, it could go any time now, but in astronomical terms, that could be any time over the next 1,000,000 years. Because observers are unsure of the stars initial mass, this makes predicting its death difficult, latest estimates reckon it will be about another 100,000 years before the fireworks begin but what the fuck do they know - ive decided its happening in my life time so thats that.