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Credit & Copyright: Michele Guzzini
Explanation:
Do you recognize this constellation?
Although it is one of the
most recognizable star groupings on the sky,
this is a
more full Orion than you can see --
an Orion only revealed with long exposure digital
camera imaging and
post-
processing.
Here the cool
red giant
Betelgeuse
takes on a strong orange tint as the brightest star on the upper left.
Orion's
hot blue stars are numerous, with
supergiant
Rigel balancing Betelgeuse on the lower right, and
Bellatrix
at the upper right.
Lined up in
Orion's belt are three stars
all about 1,500
light-years away,
born from the constellation's well-studied
interstellar clouds.
Just below Orion's belt is a bright but fuzzy patch that might also
look familiar -- the stellar nursery known as
Orion's Nebula.
Finally, just barely visible to the
unaided
eye but quite striking here is
Barnard's Loop -- a huge gaseous emission nebula surrounding Orion's Belt and
Nebula discovered over 100 years ago by the pioneering Orion photographer
E. E. Barnard.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion
Publications with words: Orion
See also: