Orion

The whole sky is no other constellation, which would contain “only interesting and easily accessible to observation of objects as the Orion. The color of this star is bluish-white, the surface temperature of 13,000 °. The star emits light at 64 000 times stronger than our Sun. The reason for this extremely high luminosity of Rigel is not only that the bolt is very hot, but “in its size. Exceeding the diameter of the sun 40 times. Riegel rightly considered a supergiant.

Rigel – triple star. Judging from the spectrum, the companion of Rigel, in turn, is a close pair of stars, performing around the common center of mass is almost complete turnover in 10 days. Riegel and his companions were very far from the Earth – we shared nearly 1,000 light-years. No matter how large crossbar, but the red star Betelgeuse and Orion, much more.

Betelgeuse-semiregular variable star. In a bizarre curve changes its brightness are two variations, with periods of 180 and 2070 days. Interestingly, the fluctuations between light and changes in the diameter of Betelgeuse is determined with an interferometer, is observed at the maximum diameter of the star light is minimum (and maximum temperature), at a minimum – on the contrary. Hence, fluctuations in brightness of Betelgeuse and stars similar to it called “semiregular” pulsations.
The star Bellatrix Orion inferior in splendor and Rigel and Betelgeuse. But it is also a giant star, still hotter than Rigel – the surface temperature exceeds 20 000 Bellatrix °. Incidentally, in the Middle Ages it was called Bellatrix, that is, in Latin, “warrior.” The fourth star – x, in the main figure of Orion has its own name, the star – a giant hot surface temperature of about 25 000 °. Stars belong to the rare spectral type O and the surface temperature even slightly exceeds 25 000 °.

The Orion Nebula – one of those objects that astronomers pay particularly close attention in the nebula is visible through binoculars as well smeared bright spot of indeterminate shape. The photographs are well visible nebula complex structure and its very extensive size. There is reason to believe that the Orion Nebula “wraps” almost all of this constellation, and the naked eye (as in the Andromeda Nebula) is available only the most dense and bright central part. The nature of the two brightest nebulae in Earth’s sky – the Andromeda and the Orion – are quite different. Andromeda galaxy – a huge and very distant star system of tens of billions of suns.

The Orion Nebula is located within our galaxy, about 350 pc from the Sun. The average density of the gas or, as they say, a diffuse nebula “to 10″ times smaller than that of room air. In other words, the mass of one milligram of the nebula would have a volume of 100 cubic kilometers! The best of vacuums made in the laboratory, millions of times denser than the Orion Nebula!

Of the substance of the Orion Nebula could be made about a thousand suns such as ours, or more than three hundred million Earth-like planets! That’s what “astronomical” scope of the Orion Nebula, which make it very “weighty,” even at negligible average density! Clarity, we note that if the Earth to reduce the size of a pinhead, that on such a scale the Orion Nebula would take the size of the volume of the globe!

The Orion Nebula is very bright. But the light of this – the “cold”, caused mainly processes of luminescence that is excited close to the nebula, or even immersed hot stars.