The Joyful Addictions of Geeks/Nerds

distant-traveller:

Orion’s cradle

Cradled in glowing hydrogen, stellar nurseries in Orion lie at the edge of a giant molecular cloud some 1,500 light-years away. This breath-taking view spans about 13 degrees across the center of the well-known constellation with the Great Orion Nebula, the closest large star forming region, just right of center. The deep mosaic also includes (left of center), the Horsehead Nebula, the Flame Nebula, and Orion’s belt stars. Image data acquired with a hydrogen alpha filter adds other remarkable features to this wide angle cosmic vista — pervasive tendrils of energized atomic hydrogen gas and portions of the surrounding Barnard’s Loop. While the Orion Nebula and belt stars are easy to see with the unaided eye, emission from the extensive interstellar gas is faint and much harder to record, even in telescopic views of the nebula-rich complex.

Image credit: Tony Hallas

stellar-indulgence:

Soul Nebula

stellar-indulgence:

Orion the Hunter

Orion is one of the most easily identifiable constellations in the sky. The three stars on Orion’s belt, as well as the four (limbs) enshrouding them, seem to leap out at you once you know what to look for. His shoulder is marked by the red supergiant Betelgeuse (literally “armpit of the central one” in Arabic), and his left leg is marked by the blue-white supergiant Rigel.

But do you see that little pink blob just below the belt? That’s no star at all, that’s the Orion Nebula, one of the only nebulae in the whole sky visible to the naked eye. Even through a small telescope, it’s a beauty to behold.

For the Observer

Alpha Orionis, Betelguese (05h52.5m +07° 24’)means “the armpit of the giant. It is a huge swollen red supergiant 650 light years distant. The star is a class M2 of magnitude 0.8, and it expands and contracts by 20 % of its diameter. These variations are actually quite spectacular and the diameter ranges from between 700 and 1000 times that of our Sun! Betelguese has a surface temperature of about 3400 K. Because massive stars burn their fuel at a much faster rate, Betelguese has an estimated lifetime of only 5 to 10 million years (as opposed to our Sun’s lifetime of 10 billion years.) Bigger is not always better!

Beta Orionis, Rigel (05h15m -08 12’) the “left foot of Orion” is a 0.1 magnitude class B8 blue supergiant about 800 light years distant. Rigel’s luminosity is about 55,000 times greater than our Sun. If Rigel was as close as Sirius, it would appear as bright as a crescent moon! Rigel has a 6.7 magnitude bluish companion that is believed to by a physical binary.

Gamma Orionis, Bellatrix (05h25m +06° 21’) means “female warrior.” Bellatrix is a class B2 blue supergiant with a magnitude of 1.6. The star is 300 light years distant. It is a relatively young star, probably less than 10 million years old. Bellatrix appears to be surrounded by a shell of expanding gas indicating the star is ejecting some of its atmosphere into space.

Delta Orionis, Mintaka (05h32m -00° 18’) means “the belt” which is where this star is located in Orion. Mintaka has a magnitude of 2.2 and is a blue giant class B0 star. Its distance is 800 light years away. Mintaka is both a visusl and spectroscopic binary. The spectroscopic companion is a blue star, the visual companion is 52 arcseconds from Mintaka. There is a bluish 6.7 magnitude companion to Mintaka. The stars form a physical pair with a separation of about 0.5 light years.

Kappa Orionis, Saiph (05h48m -09° 40’) is a 2.1 magnitude class B0.5 blue supergiant. The star is 2,000 light years distant.

M42 (NGC 1976) The “Great Nebula in Orion.”(05h32.9m -05° 25) This beautiful gaseous nebula can be found in the sword of Orion, and can be seen is a pair of binoculars. In telescopes, it is breathtaking! This glowing cloud shines by the light of stars embedded within. M42 is a stellar nursery, where star formation is taking place. The nebula is about 1600 light years distant and about 30 light years accross.

M43 (NGC1982) (05h33.1m -05° 18’) This is actually a detached portion of the Great Nebula M42. It has a bright class O bluish central star.

NGC2194 (06h11m +12° 50’) Cluster of about 100 stars with an overall magnitude of about 9.

NGC2169 (06h05.7m +13° 58’) Small compact cluster. Overall magnitude of 8.

Mythology

Orion is the legendary great hunter of the Greek mythology. It was said he was the most beautiful of men and the most skillfull of hunters. Unfortunately Orion accepted this praise with utter confidence it was true, and then some. He began boasting of his skills, claiming to have total superiouity over all creatures. Quite naturally, this annoyed the gods that be and they decided to punish him for his greatly inflated ego. Firmly believing in capitol punishment, the gods sent Scorpius, the scorpion was to earth to sting Orion’s foot, and kill him. Diana, an admirer of Orion (and his ego) implored the gods to place the great hunter in the sky to remember him by. This they agreed to, so long as they also placed the scorpion there to warn against such nasty crimes as ego. In Orion’s last dying breatls he begged not to be placed near the scorpion. And so, Orion dominates the winter skies while Scorpius’ domain is the summer skies.

Sources: 1, 2, 3 Top image credit: Jim Delillo

jtotheizzoe:

explore-blog:

1962 models of the moon.

From back when people actually had to draw Google Maps. Epic globes.

(Source: , via greatmindsofscience)

stellar-indulgence:

Heart Nebula

scinerds:

NGC 1999

Image Credit: Z. Levay (STScI/AURA/NASA), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (NOAO/AURA/NSF)

This wide-field panorama of star formation was captured with the National Science Foundation’s Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Located in the constellation of Orion (the Hunter), the image show a portion of one of Orion’s giant molecular clouds (known as “Orion A”) where new stars are forming.

stellar-indulgence:

Mote in God’s Eye by GlennClovis

stellar-indulgence:

Where Ghosts Fall Silent by synax444

stellar-indulgence:

Samoid 1 by Nameless Designer

stellar-indulgence:

Field of Desire by Burning Liquid

stellar-indulgence:

Devil’s Crown by tsarye

stellar-indulgence:

Life Within by Nameless Designer

distant-traveller:

Blazing bristlecone

Image credit: Tom Lowe

distant-traveller:

The Hunter’s stars

Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion, the Hunter, is one of the most easily recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape from January 15, the hunter’s stars rise in the northern hemisphere’s winter sky, framed by bare trees and bounded below by terrestrial lights around Lough Eske (Lake of Fish) in County Donegal, Ireland. Red giant star Betelgeuse is striking in yellowish hues at Orion’s shoulder above and left of center. Rivaling the bright red giant, Rigel, a blue supergiant star holds the opposing position near Orion’s foot. Of course, the sword of Orion hangs from the hunter’s three belt stars near picture center, but the middle star in the sword is not a star at all. A slightly fuzzy pinkish glow hints at its true nature, a nearby stellar nursery visible to the unaided eye known as the Orion Nebula.

Image credit: Brendan Alexander

subatomiconsciousness:

The new image from the European Southern Observatory shows Lupus 3, which lies about 600 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius. The section shown here is about five light-years across. 
Lupus 3 is a stellar nursery. The dark, cloudy shape on the left shows where new stars are forming. The bright patch is new stars that have emerged from their dusty nursery. 
It is likely that the Sun formed in a similar star formation region more than four billion years ago.