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In the night sky: Orion Start this free course now. Free course In the night sky: Orion. Long description. Finding your latitude using the Pole star Once you have determined which direction is North, you can use the Pole Star to determine how far north you are — your latitude. Alnilam has a radius 30 times that of the Sun and is , times more luminous.
The star is surrounded by NGC , a molecular cloud turned into a reflection nebula by the light of the bright star. It is a binary star approximately light years from Earth. It has an apparent magnitude of 2. It is 90, times more luminous and 20 times more massive than the Sun. The two stars in the Mintaka system orbit each other every 5.
The system is classified as an eclipsing binary. Delta Orionis is really a multiple star system. The main component is the binary star, one consisting of a B-type giant B0. Orion constellation can easily be found in the sky from November to February. For observers in the northern hemisphere, the constellation lies in the southwestern sky. For those in southern latitudes, Orion can be seen in the northwestern sky and appears to be standing on his head.
The star lying in the middle of the sword is not a star at all, but the famous Orion Nebula Messier 42 , which appears as a patch of light to the unaided eye on clear nights. To the west, the three stars point in the direction of Aldebaran , the brightest star in Taurus constellation , and make it easy to locate the famous Pleiades Messier 45 and Hyades star clusters.
In ancient Egyptian mythology, Orion and the bright star Sirius represent Osiris and his wife. Ancient Egyptians believed that the gods descended from Sirius and the Belt of Orion, and instigated the human race.
It rises four minutes earlier each day, or two hours earlier each month, according to EarthSky. Orion's Belt is easy to find because it is bright, and the stars in the asterism appear to be equally distant from one another based on our earthly perspective.
In fact, the stars and star systems that comprise Orion's Belt are light-years apart and far distant from us between 1, and 2, light-years away from us. As humans, our love of finding patterns and organization is what led ancient astronomers to include Orion's Belt in one of the winter sky's most clear constellations. 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.
In late November, Orion appears to be lying on his side, with the three stars of the belt pointing upward, in the Northern Hemisphere. Orion's Belt is a helpful asterism for finding the constellation it is part of, Orion, but it is also useful for finding other notable stars in the sky. There are three bright stars you can find using Orion's Belt to guide you. First, you can use Orion's Belt to find Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.
Sirius is just 8. Continue from Orion's Belt drawing a straight line until you reach a bright star — that's Sirus. Another noticeable star you can find using Orion's Belt is Aldebaran, a red giant star located in the constellation Taurus. To identify Aldebaran, follow Orion's Belt in the opposite direction from east to west from how you identified Sirius. Aldebaran has a reddish hue to help you know you're looking at the right star.
Last, but certainly not least, you can use Orion's Belt to identify two other bright stars in the constellation Orion: Betelgeuse and Rigel. Betelgeuse, another reddish star is usually the tenth-brightest star in the night sky it's also a variable star so it sometimes dims and loses that spot on the list , whereas Rigel is a blue supergiant and ranks No.
To find each one, look to the north of Orion's Belt to spot Betelgeuse, and equally distant to the south to find Rigel. Note: These directions work if you are viewing Orion's Belt in the Northern Hemisphere, facing south. While Orion's Belt looks like three stars, it actually comprises six stars!
Alnilam is a supergiant, Mintaka is a double star and Alnitak is a triple-star system.
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