APOD: The Hunter's Stars (2012 Jan 19)

[APOD Robot]

The Hunter's Stars

Explanation: Begirt with many a blazing star, Orion, the Hunter, is one of the most easily recognizable constellations. In this night skyscape from January 15, the hunter's stars rise in the northern hemisphere's winter sky, framed by bare trees and bounded below by terrestrial lights around Lough Eske (Lake of Fish) in County Donegal, Ireland. Red giant star Betelgeuse is striking in yellowish hues at Orion's shoulder above and left of center. Rivaling the bright red giant, Rigel, a blue supergiant star holds the opposing position near Orion's foot. Of course, the sword of Orion hangs from the hunter's three belt stars near picture center, but the middle star in the sword is not a star at all. A slightly fuzzy pinkish glow hints at its true nature, a nearby stellar nursery visible to the unaided eye known as the Orion Nebula.

<< Previous APOD

Discuss Any APOD

Next APOD >>

[/b]

[Some dude]

My reaction thoughts in the order they occurred:

- Nice shot
- I'm envious of that person's night sky
- It's not every day you get a chance to use "begirt".

[geckzilla]

You know, people call me creative since I draw a lot of pictures, but seeing anything in constellations has never made any sense to me at all. I can understand the dippers and also the coat hanger and that's about it. Oh, and the cross but I think of it as more of a kite.

[Ann]

Orion is a fantastic constellation full of massive bright stars. The hottest and most massive of all normal stars belong to spectral class O, and there are several of these rare stars here.

Take a look at the constellation Orion here.

The first O star is this picture is located at far left. It is called Meissa or Lambda Orionis. You can see that there is a large red emission nebula here. This emission nebula is made by the fierce ultraviolet radiation of Lambda Orionis.

The next O star is Alnitak, one of the three bright stars in Orion's Belt.

The next O star after Alnitak is Sigma Orionis. In the picture it is located above and slightly to the right of the Horsehead Nebula. Sigma Orionis is also surrounded by a red emission nebula.

The next O star after Sigma is Theta Ic Orionis, the newborn star powering the Orion Nebula.

The next O star after Theta Ic Orionis is Iota Orionis. That is the brightest of the two blue stars that appear to sit on the rim of the blue "bubble" surrounding the Orion Nebula.

So there are five O stars here! That's actually a fantastic heist, given how rare these blue gems are. Of course the red supergiants are even more rare, so it's no wonder that we find Betelgeuse here, too.

Ann

[starstruck]

Orion has to be one of my favourite constellations! It's strong outline and relative large size in the night sky makes it so easily recognisable. Trouble is, I can find something to appreciate in many of the constellations, so having just one favourite is like having only one favourite piece of music; practically impossible! This is a really good picture, the silhouetted bare branches stretching like fingers towards the stars . . you can almost feel the chill of a cold winter night's air as you look at it. Very nice, the way the colours of Betelgeuse, Rigel and the nebula stand out so clearly. On his website the photographer says he has only quite recently taken up the art of astrophotography, well, if that's the case then it would seem he's a very quick learner!

[Ann]

You can see all five Orion O stars in today's APOD, except Theta 1c Orionis, whose light is lost in the pink glare of the Orion Nebula.

Clearly, as you look at today's APOD, you can see that the O stars are not the most brilliant stars here. Why don't they shine the strongest if they are the most massive and hottest?

It is because the O stars emit most of their energy as invisible ultraviolet light. But as the O stars age and shut down hydrogen fusion in their cores, their outer layers expand and cool. Then more of their energy will be emitted as visible light.

Both Betelgeuse and Rigel almost certainly started out as O stars. But both these stars have shut down hydrogen fusion in their cores and expanded. Rigel has expanded enough that its photosphere has cooled from at least 30,000 degrees Kelvin (more like 35,000 degrees Kelvin or more) to about 12,000 degrees Kelvin. Betelgeuse has cooled from perhaps 30,000 degrees Kelvin to less than 3,500 degrees Kelvin. Rigel and Betelgeuse have become so bright both because they have grown bigger than they were when they were O-stars (particularly Betelgeuse) and because more of their energy is emitted as visible light (particularly Rigel).

Today's APOD is so pleasing because of the way it brings out the stars. We don't see much nebulosity here, but the stars are brilliant and pleasingly colored. The picture brings out the stellar richness of Orion, particularly around Orion's Belt. Large numbers of stars have been born here. Brand new stars are found in the Orion Nebula. Moreover, new stars are still gestating in their stellar cocoons, making their presence known as infrared sources.

What a fantastic part of the sky this is.

Ann

[Flase]

Of course there are famous nebulae too. Barnard's loop is very striking, a circular feature that implies a spherical bubble.
The horsehead nebula also makes a great poster for your children

[Julie]

one of your top pix, brill!

[zonalunar]

Thank you for brighten our eyes one more year with this Truño-APOD of the Constellation of Orion. I was eager to see another picture of Brendan Alexander. Please where I can get a poster of this beautiful image to hang on the wall of my room.

Best regards,
Alfonso.

[owlice]

Alfonso, please contact Brendan Alexander about getting a poster of the image. His contact information is available on his website, which you can get to by following the link after his name on the APOD page.

[orin stepanek]

Brendan Alexander; I love this photo! It's beautiful!

[Toko]

Truño in Spanish is a "polite" way to refer to "poop", so I have a feeling Alfonso was being sarcastic. Maybe he can clarify.

Today's image isn't a "truño" IMHO but looking at some of the images people send to the Asterisk, I would think it's rather uninspiring.

[owlice]

Ah, thanks, Toko. Too bad for Alfonso, then.

I think this is a lovely image. It captures not just a common sight visible to all, but also the feeling of cold and the magnificence of the sky.

[Guest]

Saludos,
Honestly, I cannot understand your comments, Alfonso.
In my opinion, this is a wonderful photo.
Truly yours,

[eltodesukane]

You know, people call me creative since I draw a lot of pictures, but seeing anything in constellations has never made any sense to me at all. I can understand the dippers and also the coat hanger and that's about it. Oh, and the cross but I think of it as more of a kite.

You forgot the seahorse

http://www.freakingnews.com/Seahorse-Co ... -26954.asp

[Guest]

The primary reason the Hunter's Stars are so-called is not often stated. For centuries hunters have been out at night in search of their quarry. It is easy to lose one's bearings at night. Orion's belt points essentially south in the northern hemisphere. On a clear night the Hunter's Stars provide an always visible compass sufficent to find one's way home.

[neufer]

<<Lough Eske or Lough Eask (from Irish: Loch Iascaigh meaning "Lake of the Fish") is a small lake [#23] in County Donegal, in the northwest of Ireland. The 900 acre lake lies to the northeast of Donegal Town, to which it is connected by the River Eske.

The Flight of the Earls took place on 14 September 1607, when Hugh O'Neill, Rory O'Donnell, and Robert O'Ryan left Ireland for mainland Europe. Following the Flight of the Earls in 1607, the Plantation of Ulster saw this area of Donegal granted to Sir Basil Brooke, who rebuilt and extended Donegal Castle. About this time a manor was also constructed on the shores of Lough Eske by Scottish settlers, a cornerstone at the manor was later noted to have been inscribed with the date 1621.

In July 1998, the national daily, The Irish Daily Star, published a story entitled ‘Look out, it’s Eskie’, which made claims of a ‘monster’ sighting in the lake. Staff and residents at Harvey’s Point told the reporter that at 2.30pm on Sunday 28 June 1998 saw an unidentified object moving about 300 m of the shore. Other locals interviewed, such as bed and breakfast owners Annabel and Kieran Clarke, repeated some of the local folklore when they told the paper that ‘some lakes in Donegal are said to be connected by current to Scotland’, trying to make a link with the much more famous Loch Ness Monster. Some people suggested that the Lough Eske Monster was a publicity stunt by the chairman of the local Donegal Summer Festival committee, Zack Gallagher. He, however, has always denied this and has gone on record as believing in the existence of such a beast. The idea of a monster in Lough Eske was not raised after this and some commentators have suggested that it may have been a lost seal that swam the short distant up the River Eske from Donegal Bay.>>

Donegal Castle showing keep, on right, and Jacobean wing

---

<<Donegal Castle consists of a 15th century rectangular keep with a later Jacobean style wing. The complex is sited on a bend in the River Eske, near the mouth of Donegal Bay. The castle was the stronghold of the O'Donnell clan, Lords of Tír Conaill and one of the most powerful Gaelic families in Ireland from the 5th to the 16th centuries.

Donegal (Irish, Dún na nGall), translates as Fort of the Foreigner possibly coming from a Viking fortress in the area destroyed in 1159. The elder Sir Hugh O’Donnell, wealthy chief of the O’Donnell clan, built the castle in 1474. At the same time, he and his wife Nuala, built a Franciscan monastery further down the river. The castle was regarded as one of the finest Gaelic castles in Ireland. This was indicated by a report by the visiting English Viceroy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney, in 1566, in a letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the Lord High Treasurer, describing it as "the largest and strongest fortress in all Ireland", adding: "it is the greatest I ever saw in an Irishman's hands: and would appear to be in good keeping; one of the fairest situated in good soil and so nigh a portable water a boat of ten tonnes could come within ten yards of it"

In 1607, after the Nine Years war the leaders of the O'Donnell clan left Ireland in the Flight of the Earls. In 1611 the castle and its lands were granted to an English Captain, Basil Brooke. The keep had been severely damaged by the departing O'Donnells to prevent the castle being used against the Gaelic clans but was quickly restored by its new owners. Brooke also added windows, a gable and a large manor-house wing to the keep, all in the Jacobean style. The Brooke family owned the castle for many generations until it fell into a ruinous state in the 18th century. In 1898 the then owner, the Earl of Arran, donated the castle to the Office of Public Works. The castle was almost fully restored in the late 1990s.

A 'Famine Pot' from a local workhouse that was used during the Great Potato Famine is now located on the shores of Lough Eske as a testament to all locals who lost their lives or were forced to emigrate in the mid-1840s & 1850s.

---

<<The terms: 'a fine kettle of fish', 'a pretty kettle of fish' etc, mean 'a muddle or awkward state of affairs'. The expression 'a different kettle of fish' has, as seems fitting, a different meaning, which is 'an alternative; a different thing altogether'.

Being English, I have a close association with kettles - essential equipment for a custom that the English can still claim world dominance, the making of 'a nice cup of tea'. Tea-kettles were first named in the early 18th century; until then 'kettle' referred to any vessel for boiling water. The noun 'kettle of fish' is listed by several reference works as dating from 1745, although the earliest actual citation of the term in print that I can find is in Thomas Newte's A tour in England and Scotland in 1785:

"It is customary for the gentlemen who live near the Tweed to entertain their neighbours and friends with a Fete Champetre, which they call giving 'a kettle of fish'. Tents or marquees are pitched near the flowery banks of the river... a fire is kindled, and live salmon thrown into boiling kettles." [The French term fête-champêtre, meaning 'rural feast', was still in use at the time to describe outdoor meals. The word 'picnic' (also French - 'pique-nique' [or 'pick-a-nick']) was introduced in the late 18th century but wasn't widely used until the end of the century.]

Why a kettle of fish was chosen to represent a muddle or mess isn't clear. It may be an allusion to the confusion of bones, head and skin that is left after the fish has been eaten. It may also be that 'a pretty kettle of fish' was just pure invention, along the lines of 'a pretty pickle'. The earliest uses of the phrase, which apparently are examples of the 'muddle' meaning come from Henry Fielding and pre-date the fête-champêtre citation above. In The history of the adventures of Joseph Andrews, 1742, he writes: "'Here's a pretty kettle of fish', cries Mrs. Tow-wouse." and, in The history of Tom Jones, 1749: "Fine doings at my house! A rare kettle of fish I have discovered at last."

If those examples from Fielding aren't entirely clear in their meaning we do get an unambiguous explanation of the phrase in Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1811: "When a person has perplexed his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to have made a fine kettle of fish of it.">>

[Chris Peterson]

You know, people call me creative since I draw a lot of pictures, but seeing anything in constellations has never made any sense to me at all. I can understand the dippers and also the coat hanger and that's about it. Oh, and the cross but I think of it as more of a kite.

I expect that's because you didn't grow up in a pre-technological tribe, with the sky over you every night representing half your world, and with no rational explanations for the natural world- and thus a complex mythology/religion that connected the tangible objects and animals of everyday life to the heavens.

We see the constellations as quaint, perhaps with amusing stories attached. That's not how they started out!

[Ann]

Ah, thanks, Toko. Too bad for Alfonso, then.

I think this is a lovely image. It captures not just a common sight visible to all, but also the feeling of cold and the magnificence of the sky.

I agree with owlice. This is a great portrait of the sky as seen from northern parts of the world in the winter months, with cold bright glittering stars beckoning mysteriously overhead.

Ann

[GON]

I'm afraid that I've to agree with Alfonso. I don't undestand the picture. This is suposed to be an AAPOD. It may be a nice picture, but just a nice picture, not an AAPOD. I'm sure there are lots of images in the day much better than this one.

[GON]

I forgot the last question. In spanish the real meaning of truño as an adjective is "botched job", "soddy work".

[biddie67]

Pictures like this remind me that the stars I can see at night aren't just a local phenomenom but belong to everyone around the Earth ~~ thry just need to look up!

I love that the nebula in Orion's sword was so clearly captured. Tonight I'm going to take my binoculars outside with me to see if I can make it out ....

[geckzilla]

I expect that's because you didn't grow up in a pre-technological tribe, with the sky over you every night representing half your world, and with no rational explanations for the natural world- and thus a complex mythology/religion that connected the tangible objects and animals of everyday life to the heavens.

I always wonder if I had grown up in such circumstances if I would have ended up some kind of outcast or burnt at the stake as a witch or any of that sort of thing. Even when I was very young I never really accepted any kind of religious or mystical explanations for anything. Lacking my own explanation at the time I just kept quiet or said "oh." Anyway, I'm glad I live now and not then. Much less chance of being pelted with rocks or burnt alive these days.

[Chris Peterson]

I always wonder if I had grown up in such circumstances if I would have ended up some kind of outcast or burnt at the stake as a witch or any of that sort of thing. Even when I was very young I never really accepted any kind of religious or mystical explanations for anything. Lacking my own explanation at the time I just kept quiet or said "oh." Anyway, I'm glad I live now and not then. Much less chance of being pelted with rocks or burnt alive these days.

The proper job for a skeptic in ancient times was the shaman or priest.

As far as your current chances of encountering physical violence because of your beliefs... well, I guess it depends on the beliefs, and where you live.

[neufer]

[img3="Nicolas Poussin (1658) "Landscape with blind Orion seeking the sun"
Poussin included a storm-cloud, which both suggests the transient nature
of Orion's blindness, soon to be removed like a cloud exposing the sun."]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... soleil.jpg[/img3]

---

<<Orion is mentioned in the oldest surviving works of Greek literature, which probably date back to the 7th or 8th century BC, but which are the products of an oral tradition with origins several centuries earlier. In Homer's Iliad Orion is described as a constellation, and the star Sirius is mentioned as his dog. In the Odyssey, Odysseus sees him hunting in the underworld with a bronze club, a great slayer of animals; he is also mentioned as a constellation, as the lover of the Goddess Dawn, as slain by Artemis, and as the most handsome of the earthborn. In the Works and Days of Hesiod, Orion is also a constellation, one whose rising and setting with the sun is used to reckon the year.

The legend of Orion was first told in full in a lost work by Hesiod, probably the Astronomy; simple references to Hesiod will refer to this, unless otherwise stated. This version is known through the work of a Hellenistic author on the constellations; he gives a fairly long summary of Hesiod's discourse on Orion. According to this version, Orion was the son of the sea-god Poseidon and Euryale, daughter of Minos, King of Crete. Orion could walk on the waves because of his father; he walked to the island of Chios where he got drunk and raped Merope, daughter of Oenopion, the ruler there. In vengeance, Oenopion blinded Orion and drove him away. Orion stumbled to Lemnos where Hephaestus — the lame smith-god — had his forge. Hephaestus told his servant, Cedalion, to guide Orion to the uttermost East where Helios, the Sun, healed him; Orion carried Cedalion around on his shoulders. Orion returned to Chios to punish Oenopion, but the king hid away underground and escaped Orion's wrath. Orion's next journey took him to Crete where he hunted with the goddess Artemis and her mother Leto, and in the course of the hunt, threatened to kill every beast on Earth. Mother Earth objected and sent a giant scorpion to kill Orion. The creature succeeded, and after his death, the goddesses asked Zeus to place Orion among the constellations. Zeus consented and, as a memorial to the hero's death, added the Scorpion to the heavens as well.>>