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 September 30

                          Orion Rising over Brazil
                 Image Credit & Copyright: Carlos Fairbairn

   Explanation: Have you seen Orion lately? The next few months will be
   the best for seeing this familiar constellation as it rises continually
   earlier in the night. However, Orion's stars and nebulas won't look
   quite as colorful to the eye as they do in this fantastic camera image.
   In the featured image, Orion was captured by camera showing its full
   colors last month over a Brazilian copal tree from Brazil's
   Central-West Region. Here the cool red giant Betelgeuse takes on a
   strong orange hue as the brightest star on the far left. Otherwise,
   Orion's hot blue stars are numerous, with supergiant Rigel balancing
   Betelgeuse at the upper right, Bellatrix at the upper left, and Saiph
   at the lower right. Lined up in Orion's belt (bottom to top) are
   Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka all about 1,500 light-years away, born of
   the constellation's well studied interstellar clouds. And if a "star"
   toward the upper right Orion's sword looks reddish and fuzzy to you, it
   should. It's the stellar nursery known as the Great Nebula of Orion.

                     Tomorrow's picture: unsafe horizons
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