APOD: A Lion in Orion (2022 Mar 07)

[APOD Robot]

A Lion in Orion

Explanation: Yes, but can you see the lion? A deep exposure shows the famous dark indentation that looks like a horse's head, visible just left and below center, and known unsurprisingly as the Horsehead Nebula. The Horsehead Nebula (Barnard 33) is part of a vast complex of dark absorbing dust and bright glowing gas. To bring out details of the Horsehead's pasture, an astrophotographer artistically combined light accumulated for over 20 hours in hydrogen (orange), oxygen (blue), and sulfur (green). The resulting spectacular picture captured from Raachine, Lebanon, details an intricate tapestry of gaseous wisps and dust-laden filaments that were created and sculpted over eons by stellar winds and ancient supernovas. The featured composition brings up another pareidolic animal icon -- that of a lion's head -- in the expansive orange colored gas above the horse's head. The Flame Nebula is visible just to the left of the Horsehead. The Horsehead Nebula lies 1,500 light years distant towards the constellation of Orion.

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[Ann]

My pareidolia isn't sharp enough for me to spot the lion in Orion, I'm afraid.

So all I can offer is a sleepy lion:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

[MarkBour]

Uhhh, maybe at the upper left, but I don't think I see it either.
A very nice image, nevertheless. Overall, it looks like a striking, bright orange version of the northern lights.

[AVAO]

My pareidolia isn't sharp enough for me to spot the lion in Orion, I'm afraid.

So all I can offer is a sleepy lion:

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

I can also only see the brown mane, but not the lion's face. But for me the horsehead nebula is also a pareidolia resp. a "trojan" horse. In the IR-wavelenghts you can see the snake inside


Jac Berne (flickr)

But actually I hav no idea to explane that...

[orin stepanek]

Well Ya; I see the roaring lion; and some other strange creatures as
well!

Kitty excited about something!

[larryc50@ATT.NET]

I do think you missed an obvious nebula, down in the right corner of the image. I believe it's called the Playful Kitten Nebula.

playful kitten.jpg

(not sure this is working, but it appears as a kitten standing up, batting at something)

[Cousin Ricky]

NGC 2023 is surprisingly dim, and Alnitak is missing completely. I suppose a reflection nebula would be largely suppressed in a narrowband photo, but what accounts for Alnitak’s absence, especially since there are other stars in the photo, notably Sigma Orionis?

[Ann]

NGC 2023 is surprisingly dim, and Alnitak is missing completely. I suppose a reflection nebula would be largely suppressed in a narrowband photo, but what accounts for Alnitak’s absence, especially since there are other stars in the photo, notably Sigma Orionis?

Indeed, Alnitak is missing in the APOD. I have tried to mark the position of it in my annotated version of the APOD. More importantly, I have tried to demonstrate how important Sigma Orionis is in the Horsehead region. Sigma Orionis has an enormous impact when it comes to sculpting the gas in the region.

A Lion in Orion. Image Credit & Copyright: Maroun Mahfoud

---

Alnitak and the powerful UV light of Sigma Orionis. I know, it looks like a cobweb!

Ann

[MarkBour]

I do think you missed an obvious nebula, down in the right corner of the image. I believe it's called the Playful Kitten Nebula.

playful kitten.jpg

(not sure this is working, but it appears as a kitten standing up, batting at something)

Ahh, I think I see that one.
Although searching for the "playful kitten nebula" online
did not turn up anything for me.

These things really are quite volatile, though, right?
It surely only appears that way from our angle, and
only with the correct filters and processing,
and even then, the brain has to mess with the data
to interpret such a figure.

[grogers@psa-online.com]

What happened to Alnitak in today's APOD?
Gordon Rogers www.gordonrogers.co.uk

[heehaw]

Pretty, oh so pretty ... all that interstellar ... filth.

[johnnydeep]

Pretty, oh so pretty ... all that interstellar ... filth.

And from such similar filth we have ultimately evolved. How ironic. Or appropriate. Depending on your mood.

[FrankTKO]

I actually see two lions: a lioness, face forward,leaning a little, giving the finger and a lion in profile, looking left, munching on a bloody something...






The lioness looks more like a house cat, which would explain the finger

[ChunkyMaster300]

When was this picture taken? Lovely photograph!