Secrects Of The Stars In Orion Belt

Orion is one of the most famous constellations in the night sky. Orion, "the Hunter" is arguably the most recognizable constellation in the world. It lies on the celestial equator, making it visible from both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Orion’s shape is very easy to tell because it has many bright stars and of course its signature Belt, three stars system which are together in a nearly straight line.

One of the most obvious features people see in Orion is the three stars that make up what most people consider the belt of the giant. 

The three stars in the belt are Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.. Though the three stars looks very close to each other and of equal sizes but actually they are not. Details are as follows : 

• Alnitak is a triple star system at the eastern end of Orion's belt and is 1,260 light-years from the Earth. Alnitak B is a 4th-magnitude B-type star which orbits Alnitak A every 1,500 years. The primary (Alnitak A) is itself a close binary, comprising Alnitak Aa (a blue supergiant of spectral type O9.7 Ibe and an apparent magnitude of 2.0) and Alnitak Ab (a blue dwarf of spectral type O9V and an apparent magnitude of about 4). Alnitak Aa is estimated as being up to 28 times as massive as the Sun, and to have a diameter 20 times greater. It is the brightest star of class O in the night sky.

• Alnilam is a supergiant, approximately 2,000 light-years away from Earth and magnitude 1.70. It is the 29th-brightest star in the sky and the fourth-brightest in Orion. It is 375,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Its spectrum serves as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified.

• Mintaka is 1,200 light-years away and shines with magnitude 2.21. Mintaka is 90,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Mintaka is a double star. The two stars orbit around each other every 5.73 days.

These stars distance from earth are different and they are very far away from each other as well. One with less brightness is closer while other with high brightness is far away but their distances makes them looks like similar sizes and appears side by side.

Here are their properties compared to the Sun :

• Alnitak: 20 times more massive and 10,000 times brighter. (Surface temperature 60,000 Fahrenheit).

• Alnilam: 20 times more massive and 18,000 times brigher. (Surface temperature 50,000 Fahrenheit.)

• Mintaka: 20 times more massive and 7,000 times brighter. (Surface temperature 60,000 Fahrenheit.)

To further blow your mind, these stars also have companion stars orbiting with them, so what you see from Earth with the naked eye isn’t necessarily what you always get.

I hope you like this topic. If you have something to say then do leave your comments below.