APOD horseheads (APOD 21 Feb 2008)

[neufer]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010426.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990519.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap010224.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031007.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030129.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000827.html
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080221.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap980604.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060221.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061015.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061229.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap020530.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070106.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060417.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070125.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050420.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap071116.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030404.html

[orin stepanek]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080221.html
Is there one or two belt stars in the picture? What is the star above the Horse's heah?
Orin

[bystander]

I believe there is only one belt star, Alnitak (eastern most), to the left of the Horsehead and above the Flame Nebula. I think the next two belt stars to the west, Alnilam and Mintaka, would be off the page to the upper left corner.

[neufer]

I believe there is only one belt star, Alnitak (eastern most), to the left of the Horsehead and above the Flame Nebula. I think the next belt star to the west, Alnilam, would be off the page to the upper left corner.

Here are the belt stars:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap061229.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070106.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050420.html

The Horsehead is a small flesh wound on the hip/butt
(from Artemis's arrow?) that left a lotta blood:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Orio ... on_map.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Uran ... _orion.jpg

<<Greek mythology has several versions of the history of Orion, the gigantic hunter of primordial times. These end in different versions of his death: He challenged the gods, either by attempting to rape Artemis or by claiming that he could kill every wild animal on Earth. Some versions then say Artemis shot him with her arrows; but others say that Artemis or Earth produced a great Scorpion whom he could not defeat and which killed him. The gods raised him and the Scorpion to the skies, as Scorpio/Scorpius. Yet other stories say Orion was chasing the Pleiades.>>

[bystander]

The Orion Deep Field (APOD 2007 Jan 6) is the same orientation as Orion's Horsehead Nebula (APOD 2008 Feb 21). The belt stars clearly extend up and to the left.

I think the star above the Horsehead may be Sigma Orionis. See Reflections on the Horsehead Nebula (APOD 2005 Nov 30).

[orin stepanek]

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060417.html
There is so much dust around the Horsehead Nebula that it is amazing that it wasn't overlooked by astronomers. Yet it has become a very popular figure in astronomy. 8)

Orin