APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Comments and questions about the APOD on the main view screen.
User avatar
APOD Robot
Otto Posterman
Posts: 5603
Joined: Fri Dec 04, 2009 3:27 am

APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by APOD Robot » Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:07 am

Image The Orion You Can Almost See

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 at the lower left. Orion's hot blue stars are numerous, with supergiant Rigel balancing Betelgeuse on the upper right, and Bellatrix at the upper left. 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. To the right of 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.

<< Previous APOD This Day in APOD Next APOD >>

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13865
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Ann » Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:51 am

This is a fantastic picture that brings out Orion in more than its full glory.

Ann
Color Commentator

hamilton1
Ensign
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2015 12:00 pm

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by hamilton1 » Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:06 am

The description says the Belt stars are all about 1500 LY away, but according to Jim Kaler's 'Stars' Alnilam is 1.5 times farther away than the other two -

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnilam.html

I've seen that discrepancy on other sites too.

User avatar
orin stepanek
Plutopian
Posts: 8200
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2005 3:41 pm
Location: Nebraska

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by orin stepanek » Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:35 am

I'm sure that each star in Orion is a different distance from us! :|
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13865
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Ann » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:21 am

hamilton1 wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:06 am The description says the Belt stars are all about 1500 LY away, but according to Jim Kaler's 'Stars' Alnilam is 1.5 times farther away than the other two -

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnilam.html

I've seen that discrepancy on other sites too.
The reason for the discrepancy is the Hipparcos parallax, which is noticeably smaller for Alnilam than for the other two Belt stars. A star's parallax is its apparent motion back and forth in the sky as the Earth moves around the Sun. The smaller the parallax, the more distant is the star.

The reason why we would doubt the suggestion that Alnilam is much farther away than Alnitak and Mintaka is that all three stars look pretty much equally bright to our eyes and are also lined up rather close to one another. Moreover the three stars belong to similar sprectral classes. It would be a strange coincidence if three so similar-looking stars of similar spectral classes which are lined up so relatively close together were at very different distances from us.

The Hipparcos parallaxes are not very reliable for stars that are more than, say, 500 light-years away. The Belt stars are certainly farther away than 500 light-years, so when Hippacos said that Alnilam is twice as far away as Alnitak and Mintaka, we must take that statement with a grain of salt.

Ann
Color Commentator

khjalmarj
Asternaut
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:34 pm

Re: APOD: Orion You Can Almost See: Horsehead

Post by khjalmarj » Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:38 pm

Didja notice you can, if you zoom in sufficiently, make out the Horsehead? I think this is the first time I've seen that in a wide-angle photo. Gorgeous!

User avatar
neufer
Vacationer at Tralfamadore
Posts: 18805
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 1:57 pm
Location: Alexandria, Virginia

Re: APOD: Orion You Can Almost See: Horsehead

Post by neufer » Wed Aug 21, 2019 2:34 pm

khjalmarj wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 1:38 pm
Didja notice you can, if you zoom in sufficiently, make out the Horsehead?

I think this is the first time I've seen that in a wide-angle photo. Gorgeous!
Compare it against Williamina Fleming's 1888 photo and tell us if anything has changed.
http://altbibl.io/gazette/the-first-computer-williamina-fleming-and-the-horsehead-nebula/ wrote:
<<Plate B2312 was taken February 6th, 1888 with the 8-inch Bache Doublet in Cambridge. It covers a familiar region of the sky: Orion’s Belt with Orion’s Nebula defined in the center. Williamina describes an object under the first star of Orion’s Belt: A large nebulosity extending nearly south from Zeta Orionis for about 60 minutes. More intense and well marked on the following side, with a semicircular indentation 5 minutes in diameter 30 minutes from Zeta. (Annals of the Harvard College Observatory, Vol 18 (1890), 116)

The “semicircular indentation” refers to the Horsehead Nebula, recognizable by the ‘notch’ that seems to fall over itself. Of course, it’s more helpful (but somewhat redundant) to say it looks like a horse’s head. Visit the plate information page on the DASCH website to learn more about this plate.>>
Art Neuendorffer

User avatar
bystander
Apathetic Retiree
Posts: 21593
Joined: Mon Aug 28, 2006 2:06 pm
Location: Oklahoma

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by bystander » Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:46 pm

I'm surprised Saiph (κ Ori, the foot opposite Rigel)) isn't labeled. It's a part of what makes Orion recognizable and is the sixth brightest star in Orion.
Know the quiet place within your heart and touch the rainbow of possibility; be
alive to the gentle breeze of communication, and please stop being such a jerk.
— Garrison Keillor

TrickyGlow

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by TrickyGlow » Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:22 pm

The Orion Nebula looks like it is morphing out of the gas for some reason, probably due to a blackhole within the ultrabright area i assume.

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13865
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Ann » Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:01 pm

bystander wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 4:46 pm I'm surprised Saiph (κ Ori, the foot opposite Rigel)) isn't labeled. It's a part of what makes Orion recognizable and is the sixth brightest star in Orion.
Indeed, Saiph is an important part of the Orion constellation.

Unfortunately I don't know the author of the picture at right.

Ann
Color Commentator

Boomer12k
:---[===] *
Posts: 2691
Joined: Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:07 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Boomer12k » Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:21 am

Awesome image...very vivid...

I had gotten a copy of "Barnard's Handbook", it is a loose leaf notebook and thick. I was suppose the have gotten a second volume, but they had a fire at the time... I think I have some updated paperback version of those...I am not sure... and it is too hard to go poking around to find them...

:---[===]*

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13865
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Ann » Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:42 am

Boomer12k wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 12:21 am Awesome image...very vivid...

I had gotten a copy of "Barnard's Handbook", it is a loose leaf notebook and thick. I was suppose the have gotten a second volume, but they had a fire at the time... I think I have some updated paperback version of those...I am not sure... and it is too hard to go poking around to find them...

:---[===]*
You don't mean "Burnham's Celestial Handbook", do you, Boomer?

There are three volumes of this handbook. These books are really quite old, but there are some nice old photographs in them! Check out what it says about Orion (in Volume #2) and note how faint Betelgeuse looks in those photos, though not as faint as in the very old photo (by Pickering?) that I posted earlier in this thread.

Ann
Color Commentator

hamilton1
Ensign
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon Nov 02, 2015 12:00 pm

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by hamilton1 » Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:27 am

Ann wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 11:21 am
hamilton1 wrote: Wed Aug 21, 2019 10:06 am The description says the Belt stars are all about 1500 LY away, but according to Jim Kaler's 'Stars' Alnilam is 1.5 times farther away than the other two -

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/alnilam.html

I've seen that discrepancy on other sites too.
The reason for the discrepancy is the Hipparcos parallax, which is noticeably smaller for Alnilam than for the other two Belt stars. A star's parallax is its apparent motion back and forth in the sky as the Earth moves around the Sun. The smaller the parallax, the more distant is the star.

The reason why we would doubt the suggestion that Alnilam is much farther away than Alnitak and Mintaka is that all three stars look pretty much equally bright to our eyes and are also lined up rather close to one another. Moreover the three stars belong to similar sprectral classes. It would be a strange coincidence if three so similar-looking stars of similar spectral classes which are lined up so relatively close together were at very different distances from us.

The Hipparcos parallaxes are not very reliable for stars that are more than, say, 500 light-years away. The Belt stars are certainly farther away than 500 light-years, so when Hippacos said that Alnilam is twice as far away as Alnitak and Mintaka, we must take that statement with a grain of salt.

Ann
It's also quite a coincidence that the nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades has nothing to do with the Pleiades, but I take your point.

User avatar
Ann
4725 Å
Posts: 13865
Joined: Sat May 29, 2010 5:33 am

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Ann » Thu Aug 22, 2019 11:00 am

hamilton1 wrote: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:27 am
It's also quite a coincidence that the nebulosity surrounding the Pleiades has nothing to do with the Pleiades, but I take your point.

It's not quite the same thing. The bright stars of the Pleiades are indeed at the same distance as the nebulosity they are immersed in. Of course, the current co-habitation of the stars and the dust cloud is just a chance encounter.

Ann
Color Commentator

Loaidaaort

Re: APOD: The Orion You Can Almost See (2019 Aug 21)

Post by Loaidaaort » Mon Aug 26, 2019 8:27 pm

Hi everyone! I'm pretty new to this online thing so please bare with me... :oops: I am not familiar with this subject although, once I've got the terminology down pat I will be able to have more in-depth discussions with everyone. For as of right now my feedback is that this photo is very detailed, very beautiful and vivid.