Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Categories: Bayer objects | Blue supergiants | Blue-white giants | Star systems | Orion constellation
Alnitak
Alnitak or Zeta Orionis is a multiple star system at the eastern end of Orion's belt. It is a 1.79 apparent magnitude blue supergiant, 30 000 times more luminous than the Sun. It’s absolute magnitude is -6.6. The name is taken from the Arabic an-nitaq, “the belt”. It has at least two companion stars of magnitudes 4.0 and 10.2. The magnitude 1.9 and 4.0 stars are separated by 2.3 arcseconds. The Alnitak system is bathed in the nebulosity of IC 434.
Categories: Bayer objects | Blue supergiants | Blue-white giants | Star systems | Orion constellation
Last updated: 08-20-2005 02:42:52
10-26-2009 08:16:03
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The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details