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all 36 comments

[–]battlesmurf[S] 13 points14 points ago

From the APOD site:

Explanation: The constellation of Orion holds much more than three stars in a row. A deep exposure shows everything from dark nebula to star clusters, all imbedded in an extended patch of gaseous wisps in the greater Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. The brightest three stars on the far left are indeed the famous three stars that make up the belt of Orion. Just below Alnitak, the lowest of the three belt stars, is the Flame Nebula, glowing with excited hydrogen gas and immersed in filaments of dark brown dust. Below the frame center and just to the right of Alnitak lies the Horsehead Nebula, a dark indentation of dense dust that has perhaps the most recognized nebular shapes on the sky. On the upper right lies M42, the Orion Nebula, an energetic caldron of tumultuous gas, visible to the unaided eye, that is giving birth to a new open cluster of stars. Immediately to the left of M42 is a prominent bluish reflection nebula sometimes called the Running Man that houses many bright blue stars. The above image, a digitally stitched composite taken over several nights, covers an area with objects that are roughly 1,500 light years away and spans about 75 light years.

[–]Maaaaayn 4 points5 points ago

Amazing picture! And thankyou for the comment, it helped a lot :D

[–]anddup 1 point2 points ago

Just FYI, it appears the image is 1900x927, not 1230x600

[–]battlesmurf[S] 0 points1 point ago

Whoops, my computer must have downloaded it wrong. Thanks!

[–]knowhatimsayin 0 points1 point ago

Thanks for this! Amazing pic.

[–]Abstract_Logic 10 points11 points ago

Here is the proper orientation of this photo

[–]a_bearded_man 3 points4 points ago

Kind of a shame - I wanted to see the whole constellation. I can almost always see (during the right months) the belt and his arms and legs, but I've never been able to see the full character due to light pollution.

Regardless, still an awesome photo!

[–]jas1290 6 points7 points ago

get out to the country city-slicker!

[–]a_bearded_man 2 points3 points ago

I grew up in a small town in Michigan. However, the town council had the brilliant idea of putting lamps on all of the street with no redirection mechanism - the light would just shoot out in all directions, even into the sky where it did no good. A really crappy glow surrounded the town (as well as the smallish city ~20 miles away) and all but erased most of the fainter stars.

[–]HeyCarpy 0 points1 point ago

Well put!

Honestly though, I live in a city of 200,000 people, 45 minutes from Toronto - and I still have no problem seeing all of Orion.

[–]attrition0 2 points3 points ago

I can see Orion occasionally in Toronto. But growing up in a town of 700 in rural Newfoundland, it's just not the same. Nothing beats seeing the stars in such isolation.

[–]HeyCarpy 1 point2 points ago

Ever head up to northern Ontario? Get up to Tobermory or something, it'll bring back memories of The Rock b'y.

Displaced Nova Scotian here, btw.

[–]attrition0 2 points3 points ago

I've been to a cottage about an hour north of Peterborough, which was only reachable via a 10 minute boat ride. Very rewarding! I'm considering an Algonquin park visit, I suspect that would work too.

[–]northenden 1 point2 points ago

I was just up at Ranger Lake, northeast of Sault Ste. Marie. The sky seemed absolutely unreal.

[–]blackmang 0 points1 point ago

I've lived in the city my entire life. I've never seen anything in the night sky but a few white dots.

So, what I'm wondering is, how closely does this photo match a naked-eye view of Orion in rural Newfoundland? I'm guessing a lot of zoom, exposure, and color adjustments were used to produce this photo, but I have absolutely no clue.

[–]mwguthrie 1 point2 points ago

I would suggest planning a stargazing trip. You're obviously interested enough to browse /r/spaceporn, it might be worth a day or two to just go and camp out in the wilderness to look at some incredible stars. Maybe borrow a telescope, but if you're out far enough you don't need it to see big stuff. One of the most amazing things I've ever seen was Saturn's rings through a telescope, not just a picture.

[–]attrition0 1 point2 points ago

You can't see anything like this with the naked eye, from what I've seen (someone with excellent vision may disagree, but I've nothing to compare to). When in town there are (minimal) streetlights, but generally you can see the whole sky as stars and not merely voids of darkness.

Then you go just outside town, or perhaps on top of a large hill and wait for a little bit for your eyes to adjust. You can see the concentrated disc of the milky way. The impression of a band of stars across the entire sky. This is what I miss most, I think.

I have a strong connection with Orion in particular, as during the nights when coming from the harbour Orion would be right in front of me, guiding me home.

[–]MattieShoes 0 points1 point ago

The 3 bright stars are the belt. To the right, you've got the 2 stars and the nebula in between that make up the sword. The image has enormous dynamic range, or else the entirety of M42 would be blown out and white.

[–]Alpinestarhero 3 points4 points ago

Hmm, the M42...congested, I see.

[–]MattieShoes 0 points1 point ago

Messier object number 42 That'd be the purple'ish bit in the top right.

I personally like the running man nebula, located to the left of M42 :-)

[–]marshhl 2 points3 points ago

Wow, the "tiny" Horsehead Nebula really puts the scale of things into a good perspective.

[–]Gorrn 1 point2 points ago

Beautiful, thanks for my new wallpaper!

[–]CtrlC_plus_CtrlV 5 points6 points ago

The galaxy is on orion's belt.

[–]alchemeron 0 points1 point ago

I don't follow.

[–]metallicabmc 3 points4 points ago

Men in Black quote. That movie also taught me what Orion's belt was.

[–]hullabazhu 0 points1 point ago

I'm not sure if means to say, that orion lies closely to the band of the milky way. The band isn't very bright since it's facing about 160 degrees away from the galactic center, but there sure is a lot of cosmic dust.

[–]Autumnsprings 1 point2 points ago

it's a quote from MIB.

[–]WILD_CARD_BITCHES_ 0 points1 point ago

what a rich tapestry

[–]drewbe121212 0 points1 point ago

Oh man, anywhere we can get these images in 3600 x 1080 or greater for duel screen backgrounds?

[–]battlesmurf[S] 0 points1 point ago

That's the biggest size I could find, even on the photographers website, Here.

[–]fresh1134206 0 points1 point ago

You should really separate your screens if they insist on dueling...

[–]MassRelay 0 points1 point ago

Absolutely amazing. Thanks.

[–]FrankZappasNose 0 points1 point ago

M42... Also known as Orion's Wang.

[–]DjOuroboros 0 points1 point ago

How is a picture like this taken?

[–]jswhitten 1 point2 points ago

Here is a list of the photographer's equipment - I got this link from APOD.

Generally it involves taking a long exposure on a camera attached to a telescope. For this photo which covers a fairly wide area of the sky, he took several photos over multiple nights and digitally stitched them together.

[–]DjOuroboros 0 points1 point ago

Thank you!