Lepus

Lepus, the Hare.  Just South of Orion
with its Ears on the Top-Right

Lepus is a constellation that looks remarkably like its name.   It sits just south of Orion's feet with its ears sticking northward.   Alas most of the stars of the Hare are rather fainter than those in the neighbourhood of Orion to the north and Canis Major to the east.  Just to the south (below)  of Beta Lepus (or Nihal) lies the distant globular cluster M79.  It is nearly 60,000 light years from the galactic centre and over 40,000 light years from Earth.    What makes M79 especially interesting is that it was probably born not in the Milky Way but in the dwarf irregular galaxy in Canis Major.  This dwarf galaxy is the nearest to the Earth and is currently being shredded by the gravity of the Milky Way.