In smaller telescopes you can see the four main stars in the trapezoid shape, hence the name, which are just as you said, a small cluster of non-associated stars, not a triple, quadruple, etc. star system. In a decent 6" scope under good seeing conditions you can see also two more stars for a total of 6. The main four are simply labled A, B, C, and D. The two fainter stars easily seen in a decent 8" scope are labled E and F. There are also two fainter stars in the group labled G and H, but they are very faint at magnitude 16.jnorman said:i always thought the trapezium in orion was a very strange quadruple star - not a double binary, but an actual quadruple star group with bizarre orbital patterns. however, now i read that it is just a cluster, i guess implying that they are not really orbitally associated. can someone please provide the correct description of the trapezium for me? thanks.