Today's picture is a snazzy shot of the trio of stars that make up Orion's Belt: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka (Left to right in the photograph). Just by looking at the picture, you can tell that these stars are HUGE. You visibly notice their diameter in the photograph, but now take in to account that these stars are light years away. Their size dwarfs our sun immensely. By a lot. These stars are Big.
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| Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka |
This trio is among the brightest of the Winter sky, and by far the most noteworthy. Nowhere else in the sky are there three stars which are lined up so perfectly. In fact, a study has shown that Orion's Belt is one of the most widely know astrological asterisms simply because it is so easy to recognize. Ironically, it is also commonly attributed to other groups of stars, often by small children or dull adults. This happened to me when I was a child, and I wanted to call any group of stars that seemed to vaguely line up Orion's Belt. Also visible in this picture are the Horseshoe and Crab nebulae, even though there only appears to be one located around Alnitak.
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