Article
Article
Orion
Article By:
Pasachoff, Jay M. Hopkins Observatory, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Last reviewed:December 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.476150
The Hunter, a prominent constellation in the evening winter sky. Orion is perhaps the easiest constellation to identify in the sky, because of the three bright stars in a line that form the belt of the mythical figure (see illustration). The cool, red supergiant star Betelgeuse glows brightly as Orion's shoulder, above which is an upraised club and the hot, blue star Rigel marks Orion's heel. From the leftmost star of the belt dangles several faint stars and the Horsehead Nebula. The faint stars and the Orion Nebula, M42 (the 42nd object in Messier's eighteenth-century catalogue), one of the most prominent and beautiful emission nebulae and a nursery for star formation, make up Orion's sword. Four bright stars close together (within about 1 light-year) make the Trapezium, which provides the energy to make the Orion Nebula glow. See also: Betelgeuse; Orion Nebula; Rigel
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