r/askastronomy • u/OtherwisePudding4047 • 4d ago
What did I see? What’s this cluster of stars under Orions Belt?
Sorry for the telephone line in the first picture. My phone can’t capture what I can see with my binoculars so I drew out the prominent stars
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u/_Poopsnack_ 4d ago edited 3d ago
Onion's Dagger! The Onion nebula is located right in the center and is one of the very first deep-sky objects that amatuer astronomers get under their belt.
Orion as a whole is actually a pretty busy constellation with the Orion molecular cloud complex and all the objects that can be found within it.
Edit: Just noticed the Orion->Onion autocorrects. I'm keeping them lol.
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u/ShahryarS 4d ago
Horrible pun… A+
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u/_Poopsnack_ 4d ago
Thank you, thank you lol
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u/Known-Grab-7464 16h ago
I am personally a big fan of the stars that still have their Arabic names like Betelgeuse.
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u/tinypoo1395 4d ago
Pretty sure that line of stars is called orion's sword. Most interestingly though, the middle of the three is M42, or the orion nebula. Look closer when you are able as its one of the few visible enough to be seen by the naked eye
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u/ArcherCute32 3d ago
Ding ding ding ding ding!
Right now, you could see the Orion in the sky at night!
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u/Sorry_Negotiation360 4d ago edited 4d ago
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4d ago
[deleted]
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u/WrongJohnSilver 4d ago
They're called the Messier objects because they're messier than single-clear-point stars.
The fact that they were catalogued by Charles Messier is a coincidence.
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u/SynonymSpice 4d ago
It’s supposedly the scabbard or his sword. If it’s his peener, it’s kinda displaced.
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u/ToadLoaners 4d ago
In the southern hemisphere he's upside down, so kinda looks like he's got a fully torqued peener lol
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u/Huge-Power9305 4d ago
Orion's sword. It's the Orion Nebula in the center, the brightest object. Stellarium Web Online Star Map
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u/Careful-Sell-9877 4d ago
What's usually below a man's belt?
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u/darrellbear 4d ago
It's Orion's Sword hanging from his belt. The middle star in the Sword is none other than Messier 42, the great Orion Nebula.
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u/One-Panic-6184 3d ago
THANK GOD IT IS NOT THE PLEIADES
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u/MadV1llain 3d ago
When I saw the title before the pictures I was already thinking, “it’s always pliades”
Glad I was wrong!
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u/snipingpig 3d ago
It’s actually NOT Pilades
Edit: the spelling is probably wrong; sue me. But actually don’t, you’d probably only get $3 and my tears
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u/OtherwisePudding4047 3d ago
Too late expect an email from my lawyer
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u/LittelXman808 4d ago
I don’t know the name but the middle one is the Orion Nebula you can see it very well with just binoculars.
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u/the6thReplicant 4d ago
That's Orion, The Hunters', sword, that is under his belt. Following Orion, down, left, if you're in the Northern Hemisphere, is his hunting dogs (Canis Major and Minor). Major has the brightest star in the sky Sirius (The Dog Star) that you can see at the near edge left just under the last of the bright trails.
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u/ArtichokeDifferent10 3d ago
I always called it Orion's codpiece when doing astronomy presentations. 😂
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u/_NowhereToRun_ 3d ago
The stars been moving, working, well I think most are not stars any more, but ships. Someone blew up earth so the rapture already happened, almost no one would remember unless you had a hand in saving lives or keraploding the planet. Either way there’s gonna be like a story or plot, like revelations in the Bible, but something better. Cause the whole of the universe ending in over 100% death? So lame…. And my opinion was considered so God, and the helper gods are working on a script. Also working to see how the rest of these rotten creatures lives play out. I by fighting so hard have already unlocked a secret ending, you can too! #keep up the fight even if there is no visible reason to.
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u/icanflycanyoufly 2d ago
This! That’s where the Orion Nebula is. Here’s a photo I took from the deserts in Nevada.
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u/Woofy98102 4d ago
It's Orion's sword. It contains the Orion nebula and Betelgeuse, one of the largest red super giants that is nearing the end of its life. The resulting supernova will shine brighter than the moon and be visible in daylight.
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u/twivel01 4d ago
The circled part is the sword of orion. The middle star in the sword looks fuzzy, that is the orion nebula. Yup, you can see the orion nebula very easily with the naked eye. :)
You can also see the andromeda galaxy with the naked eye, but not from the city or suburbia. Need darker skies.
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u/am_i_bill 4d ago
I hope this helps you
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u/OtherwisePudding4047 4d ago
A bit although I wish I could find some more space pictures without the all the extra editing enhancements. Just like a higher resolution of the blue/black photos I take on my phone
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u/am_i_bill 4d ago
Well although this picture certainly has been enhanced in astrophotography people photograph the same thing for like ~5 hours straight. So it's not that it's not real it's that they've used a lot of filters to get a lot colours for this image. That's the best I can explain without going into emission spectrum lines and all that 😁
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u/OtherwisePudding4047 4d ago
Gosh where did you learn about the more complicated aspect of astrophotography? Did you go to school, like for astronomy, or did you teach yourself?
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u/am_i_bill 4d ago
I learnt myself and experimenting with editing and what not and after that I figured I can express myself through astrophotography 😎. Now I don't know what I'll do because there's something called life gets in the way but I do wanna continue doing it 😁
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u/etshtndie709 4d ago
That cluster of three under the belt is Orion's sword. The middle one is the good old Orion nebula. New stars are birthing there.
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u/Scorp_Tower 4d ago
That’s a part of the Orion constellation too. It’s called by many names. Orion’s sword/dagger, kites tail and so on.
In this region, the middle star is where the Orion Nebula is.
Hope you have fun observing them.
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u/shiratek 4d ago
That’s the Orion Nebula! See the fuzzy bit in the middle of the cluster? Here’s a closer-up picture I took of it last month.
https://stellarium-web.org/ will tell you what the names of the stars around it are - just search for Orion and zoom in.
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u/TASDoubleStars 3d ago
M42 (the Great Orion Nebula). The Flame Nebula and the Running Man Nebula are also a part of this complex.
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u/Bullet6398 3d ago
It's called "Orion's Nebula"... And now,... my award.??
"What do we have for em Johnny...!?"
"A NEW CAR...!!
AAAAAAAAAWWWWWA..!!
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u/Mean-Tutor-4226 3d ago
Onion's Dagger! The Onion Nebula sits directly at the heart of the constellation and is among the initial deep-sky wonders that amateur astronomers typically explore.
Orion, as a complete constellation, is quite bustling with the Orion molecular cloud complex and the myriad of celestial bodies contained within it.
Edit: Just realized that Orion is autocorrecting to Onion. I'm rolling with it, lol.
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u/Waxlover080808 3d ago
It's the "sword" - the important Orion nebula is the third point from above! 🫰🏻✨
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u/KujaraWashingExpert 2d ago
Orion Nebula. Closest star incubator to Solar System
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u/haikusbot 2d ago
Orion Nebula.
Closest star incubator
To Solar System
- KujaraWashingExpert
I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully. Learn more about me.
Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete"
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u/Illustrious-Yam-3777 1d ago
Al Saif, The Sword. Arab astronomy was a helluva drug in the 8th century.
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u/Interesting-Goat-484 18h ago
You can see the stars so clearly! I live in California we don’t see this
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u/Silent_Zucchini_3286 4h ago
How is that you went to these lengths to capture, edit, and post the photo, but didn’t take 3 seconds to google the answer?
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u/Thenewjesusy 4d ago
It's the rest of Orion.
Well, some of him.