A first look of the season at the 3 brilliant stars of Orion’s Belt. From left to right in this image their names are Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. Seen in a consistently spaced line from our vantage point on Earth, Alnilam (the center star) is actually more than 700 lightyears further away than the others. It is by far the brightest, a supergiant that is 375,000 times more luminous than our own sun. Burning a brilliant blue, they are one of the most iconic and recognizable sights of our winter skies.
I captured this image with a short 15 second exposures over 15 minutes in natural colors as our eyes would see them including the surrounding nebulae if they were sensitive enough.
I hope you like it and have a great day!
