Orion’s girdle, or belt—consisting of three bright stars—lies nearly on the celestial equator. Orion is a prominent set of stars visible during winter in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is one of the 88 modern constellations; it was among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy.
Orion: the Hunter Constellation
With an apparent magnitude of 2.23, it is the seventh brightest star in Orion and the 73rd brightest star in the sky. It is the faintest star of Orion’s Belt and the only one that is not a supergiant. Alnitak is a hot blue supergiant of the spectral type O9.5Iab. It has a mass 33 times that of the Sun and a radius 20 times solar. With an effective temperature of about 29,500 K, it shines with 250,000 solar luminosities. It’s a distinctive three stars of a similar brightness in a line, and they really stand out as part of that kind of box that makes up the constellation Orion itself.
- Alnilam’s brightness has been observed to vary from magnitude 1.64 to 1.74.
- The sword that hangs from the belt points towards the south.
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- To spot it, look for the hourglass shape of Orion and the three stars that create the narrow part of the hourglass form Orion’s Belt.
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- Orion’s Belt is a well-known asterism in the night sky, also known as a grouping of stars.
- Orion and Scorpius are never seen in the sky at the same time.
In the Chinese Classic of Poetry (Book of Songs), the oldest existing collection of Chinese poetry, the Three Stars asterism (Shen) was paired with Sheng (Antares). The stars were seen as a metaphor for two people who could never unite. Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius, never rises until Orion’s Belt has set. The region orions bet around Orion’s Belt is home to several bright and well-known deep sky objects. These objects are part of the larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, a vast star-forming region that stretches across most of the constellation Orion. Orion dominates the evening sky during the northern hemisphere winter.
NGC 2112 and Barnard’s Loop
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- This is a widely dispersed group of seven bright stars (one in a pair) in six different constellations.
- In Puerto Rico, Mexico and the Philippines they are called Los Tres Reyes Magos, meaning “the three Wise Men,” referring to the Three Kings or the Biblical Magi who visited baby Jesus.
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- Constellations weren’t just for telling stories in the ancient world.
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- It has played a central role in astral navigation in the Northern hemisphere since prehistoric times.
They were probably all born around the same time and formed from the plasma clouds within the same sky region we now know as Orion’s belt. A similar correspondence was discovered in the ruins of the ancient city of Teotihuacán, which lies 35 miles northeast of Mexico City. Two large pyramids and a temple, believed to have been built in the 2nd century BCE, point directly to Orion’s Belt, and their layout mimics that of the three Belt stars.
What is the brightest star in the Orion constellation?
The Horsehead Nebula is located just below Alnitak, and the Flame Nebula is directly next to it. You probably don’t get to stare at the night sky very often. With all the late-night shifts, regularly replaced by sleeping on time to attend a morning lecture, it’s been a while. In Western culture, you may sometimes hear Orion’s Belt referred to as the Three Kings in a biblical reference or the three sisters. In Chinese mythology, Orion’s Belt goes by The Weighing Beam.
For one thing, it’s visible practically everywhere on Earth. For another, Orion has a highly distinctive shape, and unlike many other constellations, it arguably resembles the thing it was named for – a hunter. For yet another, and complementing the aforementioned factors, Orion is home to two of the brightest stars in the sky. Alnitak B is a 4th-magnitude B-type star which orbits Alnitak A once every 1.500 years.
Interesting Structures Related to Orion’s Belt
To help you find the objects on our tour, download our PDF chart of deep-sky objects around Orion’s Head. A spectroscopic binary shows periodic movement within its component star’s spectral lines. It is easy to enjoy the view of the Orion Nebula alone, but a host of astronomical treasures awaits those willing to look a little closer. West from Bellatrix lie six stars all designated Pi Orionis (π1 Ori, π2 Ori, π3 Ori, π4 Ori, π5 Ori, and π6 Ori) which make up Orion’s shield. The stars in Orion’s Belt are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Greek mythology says that Orion the Hunter was chasing the Pleiades (seven sisters) on Earth, and Zeus put them in the sky for safety.
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The most famous Western culture reference with Orion’s belt is the Three Kings. It is a direct reference to the biblical tale of the three kings who offered gifts to the baby Christ. The emission and reflection nebula NGC 2023 appears between the Horsehead and Flame Nebulae. The smaller reflection nebulae IC 431 and IC 435 also appear near Alnitak.
Orion’s Belt is a prominent asterism formed by three stars in the constellation Orion. The three bright blue stars – Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka – outline the belt in the constellation figure of the celestial Hunter. Appearing as three stars in a row, Orion’s Belt stars lie more than 1,000 light-years away and are among the brightest stars in the sky. Betelgeuse (pronounced “BEE-tel-joos”) is the name of the most famous star in this famed constellation. Its formal name is “Alpha Orionis,” with the Greek letter alpha given to the brightest star in a given constellation, beta to the second-brightest and so on.
Where is the Orion constellation in the sky?
The two components orbit each other with a period of about 30 days. Delta Orionis Ab has a mass 22.5 times that of the Sun and a radius of 10.4 solar radii. It is 63,000 times more luminous than the Sun with a surface temperature of 28,400 K. It is separated by 0.26 arcseconds from the main pair and orbits the two stars with a period of 400 years or more. It is sometimes depicted as chasing the Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, across the sky.
The 14th magnitude companion (B) is a cool star, about 70% the size of our Sun and around 40% as luminous. +2.3 primary is designated A, the 14th magnitude star is B and the mag. Sitting 17 arcminutes south of the celestial equator, Mintaka hides a great deal of complexity. Same colour, quite close together, are virtually the same brightness and form a fairly straight line. It comes in the form of just three stars, and is known as Orion’s Belt. Orion holds something for everyone, whether you enjoy the naked-eye splendour of its stars or want to tour it with a pair of binoculars.