Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2019 August 21

                        The Orion You Can Almost See
       Image Credit & Copyright: John Gleason & Rogelio Bernal Andreo

   Explanation: Do you recognize this constellation? Although it is one of
   the most recognizable star groupings on the sky, this is a more full
   Orion than you can see -- an Orion only revealed with long exposure
   digital camera imaging and post-processing. Here the cool red giant
   Betelgeuse takes on a strong orange tint as the brightest star at the
   lower left. Orion's hot blue stars are numerous, with supergiant Rigel
   balancing Betelgeuse on the upper right, and Bellatrix at the upper
   left. Lined up in Orion's belt are three stars all about 1,500
   light-years away, born from the constellation's well-studied
   interstellar clouds. To the right of Orion's belt is a bright but fuzzy
   patch that might also look familiar -- the stellar nursery known as
   Orion's Nebula. Finally, just barely visible to the unaided eye but
   quite striking here is Barnard's Loop -- a huge gaseous emission nebula
   surrounding Orion's Belt and Nebula discovered over 100 years ago by
   the pioneering Orion photographer E. E. Barnard.

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