COLLECTION NAME:
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection
Record
Title:
Barnard's Loop Around Orion
Explanation:
Why is the belt of Orion [ http://www.daviddar… ] surrounded by a bubble? Although glowing like an emission nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ], the origin of the bubble, known as Barnard's Loop [ http://weblore.com/… ], is currently unknown. Progenitor hypotheses include the wind [ http://www-spof.gsf… ]s from bright Orion stars and the supernovas [ http://heasarc.gsfc… ] of stars long gone. Barnard's Loop [ http://www.seds.org… ] is too faint to be identified with the unaided eye. The nebula [ http://eaa.iop.org/… ] was discovered only in 1895 by E. E. Barnard [ http://astro.uchica… ] on long duration film exposures. Orion's belt [ http://www.gb.nrao.… ] is seen as the three bright stars across the center of the image, the upper two noticeably blue. Just to the right of the lowest star in Orion's belt [ http://www.astro.ui… ] is a slight indentation in an emission nebula that, when seen at higher magnification [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ], resolves into the Horsehead Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ]. To the right of the belt stars is the bright, famous, and photogenic Orion Nebula [ http://antwrp.gsfc.… ].
Credit and Copyright:
//www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~wang/gallery/gallery.html" >Copyright: W. H. Wang [ http://www.ifa.hawa… ] (IfA, U. Hawaii [ http://www.ifa.hawa… ])
facet_when:
1895
facet_where:
Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
facet_what:
ALNITAK
facet_when_year:
1895
UID:
SPD-APOD-ap050420
