Wednesday, January 29, 2025

The Head of Orion

 Lambda Orionis, or Meissa, is the brightest star in a sparse open cluster that forms the head of Orion.  The star and its associated cluster, known as CR 69 (Collinder 69), forms a triangle with the two shoulder stars Betelgeuse and Bellatrix.

credit: SkySafariAstronomy.com

Meissa (center).  Tokina 400mm f/5.6 SD + Metabones 0.71x reducer. ISO 1600, 30 s

Seestar S50.  2 min.

Meissa is a visual double star that makes a good target for small telescopes.  The two components are magnitudes 3.4 and 5.5 and are separated by 4.4 arcsec.

Meissa A+B.  Celestron C6 + 2.5x Powermate.  Stack of 3 images, ISO 800,  0.5 s.

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