Night Sky Photography -- 01-18-2022 -- The Major Stars Of Orion & The Winter Triangle

Good evening fellow stargazers!

Tonight, I have for your viewing pleasure a couple of really good shots of all the major stars in the Constellation Orion The Hunter rising in the southeastern sky just over the treetops about 50 minutes, or so, after sunset.

As you can see, in my first shot, I outlined all the bright visible major stars that make up the constellation, as well as the nearby bright star, Aldebaran, higher overhead. In my second photograph, I listed each of the major stars in the constellation, including the famous Orion Nebula circled just beneath Orion's Belt.

Located on the celestial equator, the Constellation Orion can be seen throughout the world and is clearly visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the night sky from about November to late February. The constellation is best recognized by the three bright stars: Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka, which make up the asterism "Orion's Belt".

Two of the ten brightest stars in the night sky visible from Earth are located in the Constellation Orion: the blue-white supergiant star, Rigel, the 7th brightest star in the night sky and the brightest star in the constellation; and the reddish supergiant star, Betelgeuse, the 10th brightest star and the second brightest in Orion.

With the exception of the reddish supergiant, Betelgeuse, all of the main stars in the Constellation Orion are bright young blue-white giants, or supergiants, ranging in distance from the closest star, Bellatrix at about 245 light-years, to the furthest star, Alnilam at about 1,342 light-years away.

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42) appears as a slight white smudge beneath Orion's Belt and is located around 1,350 light-years away from Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light-years across and has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun, making it one of the most visible nebulae visible to the naked eye if you know where to look.

For my final night sky offering of the evening I had to wait a couple hours to get a better shot of Orion and the two major stars: Sirius and Procyon, which along with Betelgeuse, make up the Winter Triangle asterism -- outlined in blue.

The Winter Triangle is an imaginary equilateral triangle formed by three of the brightest stars in the night sky and largest stars in three major star constellations.

Sirius (also known as the "Dog Star") is the brightest star visible from Earth in the night sky and the major star of the Constellation Canis Major (Greater Dog). Procyon (sometimes called the "Little Dog Star") is the 8th brightest star in the night sky, and the major star of the Constellation Canis Minor (Lesser Dog). Both Sirius (at about 8.6 light-years away) and Procyon (about 11.4 light-years) are close cosmic neighbors to our Sun.

In Greek mythology, both dogs accompany Orion the hunter as he tracks Taurus the Bull through the heavens.

Well I hope y'all enjoyed this evening's night sky offerings and learned something pretty interesting about our heavenly neighbors.