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ALNITAK and Sun of Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
| Title |
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka |
| Explanation |
Alnitak [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/alnitak.html ], Alnilam [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/alnilam.html ], and Mintaka [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/mintaka.html ], are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/ belt.html ], these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion's [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/ optical.html ] well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust adrift in this region have intriguing and some surprisingly familiar shapes, including the dark Horsehead [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051130.html ] Nebula and Flame Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990713.html ] near Alnitak at the lower left. The famous Orion [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061216.html ] Nebula itself lies off the bottom of this star field that covers an impressive 4.4x3.5 degrees on the sky. The color picture was composited from digitized [ http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/SkySurveys/SkySurveys.htm ] black and white photographic plates recorded through red and blue astronomical filters, with a computer synthesized green channel. The plates were taken using the Samuel Oschin Telescope [ http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomarnew/sot.html ], a wide-field survey instrument at Palomar Observatory [ http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomarnew/ ], between 1987 and 1991. |
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Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka
| Title |
Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka |
| Explanation |
Alnitak [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/alnitak.html ], Alnilam [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/alnilam.html ], and Mintaka [ http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/mintaka.html ], are the bright bluish stars from east to west (left to right) along the diagonal in this gorgeous cosmic vista. Otherwise known as the Belt of Orion [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/ belt.html ], these three blue supergiant stars are hotter and much more massive than the Sun. They lie about 1,500 light-years away, born of Orion's [ http://www.gb.nrao.edu/~rmaddale/Education/OrionTourCenter/ optical.html ] well-studied interstellar clouds. In fact, clouds of gas and dust adrift in this region have intriguing and some surprisingly familiar shapes, including the dark Horsehead [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010426.html ] Nebula and Flame Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990713.html ] near Alnitak at the lower left. The famous Orion Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050918.html ] itself lies off the bottom of this star field that covers an impressive 4.4x3.5 degrees on the sky. The color picture was composited from digitized [ http://www-gsss.stsci.edu/Dss/dss_home.HTM ] black and white photographic plates recorded through red and blue astronomical filters, with a computer synthesized green channel. The plates were taken using the Samuel Oschin Telescope [ http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomarnew/sot.html ], a wide-field survey instrument at Palomar Observatory [ http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomarnew/ ], between 1987 and 1991. |
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