In this episode of Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory, we'll look at the Orion
region, and show you how to find these beautiful
deep sky objects:
The Great Nebula in Orion
The Zeta Orionis Region
And the Emission Nebula Messier 78
Alright, Let's Go Star Hopping!

Hey Hello Hi and welcome to Episode 6 of Star
Hopping with Kissimmee Park Observatory! I'm
Dave Hearn, and I'm absolutely ecstatic to
be your host. In this series of programs we'll
show you the most beautiful sights in the
night sky, and explain exactly how to find
them with your binoculars or telescope.
In this episode we'll be exploring what is
most probably the second most well known constellation
in the sky, right after the Big Dipper. We're
talking about the constellation of Orion,
hanging low in the eastern sky in mid November
at about 10:30 PM. Packed with no less than
7 stars brighter than second magnitude, it's
the most prominent constellation in the late
Autumn and Winter skies. Additionally it's
loaded with spectacular deep sky objects of
several types.
Let's look at this extremely conspicuous constellation.
Orion is a Hunter, complete with a sword,
a club, and a bow. The hunter figure is framed
by two stars that form the shoulders, with
the stars Betelgeuse and Bellatrix, and the
two stars that mark the feet; Rigil and Saiph.
Betelgeuse and Rigil are both in the top ten
brightest stars list, with Betelgeuse shining
orange at magnitude 0.6, and Rigil shining
blue at magnitude 0.3. Above the shoulder
stars is a group of three stars that form
the eyes and mouth in the head of the hunter.
Above the head to the left are two lines of
stars that form the club in the right upraised
hand of the Hunter, and to the upper right
is an arc of stars the form the bow in the
raised left hand. Not sure how he could be
wielding two weapons at the same time, but
hey, the ancients were imaginative.
At the center of the constellation is the
most prominent feature, the famous Belt of
Orion, formed by the three bright stars Alnitak,
Alnilam, and Mintaka. Hanging off the belt
is Orion's Sword, delineated by a string of
stars, all enshrouded in nebulae.
Here in the sword lies the greatest jewel
of all deep sky objects.
The number one celestial target for beginning
astronomy enthusiasts is undoubtedly the Great
Nebula in Orion, Messier 42. This incomparable
deep sky object is the largest and brightest
nebula that can be seen from the northern
hemisphere. It is easily seen with the naked
eye as a fuzzy star, and takes on a swirling,
misty appearance in binoculars. When you point
your telescope to this wondrous object, you'll
see two misty wings stretching out from the
bright center, with knots and swirls throughout
the complex. In the largest of amateur telescopes,
the nebula appears pastel green, with hints
of blues and pinks. No other nebula in the
sky will exhibit color in the eyepiece like
this.
Also immediately apparent is the group of
four bright stars lying in the center of the
complex, known as the Trapezium. These extremely
hot stars are very young, recently born out
of the nebular gas and dust, and are responsible
for lighting up the entire nebula. The Trapezium
is a great test of your telescope's resolving
power, and will also test your eyes! Four
stars are almost immediately visible, but
under excellent seeing conditions, with dark
skies, and with a very well aligned telescope,
5 or 6 can be seen on rare occasions.
The Orion Nebula is probably the most viewed
object at public observing sessions, as it
is easily seen by anyone, and impresses even
the most surly teenagers.
Well, I could spend the entire episode discussing
M42 but we have several more amazing targets
to discuss.
Very close by, there are several other amazing
targets. Let's move up to the Belt of Orion
and look at the lowest star, Alnitak, also
known as Zeta Orionis. Just below Zeta is
another large emission nebula, called the
Flame Nebula. This nebula is difficult to
see in the eyepiece because of the close proximity
of Zeta. The trick to see this object is to
move the bright star just out of the eyepiece
field of view, then use Averted Vision to
look for the nebula. This is another amazing
nebula in astrophotos. Just a few degrees
below Zeta also lies the famous Horsehead
Nebula. Unfortunately, unless you have a very
large telescope, 20" or larger, it is extremely
difficult to see visually, even with special
band pass filters. But in photos like this
one from KPO, the Horsehead is an amazing
object. It is formed by some obscuring dust
called a Dark Nebula, that lies in front of
the red emission nebula behind it. Where the
object's name comes from is pretty obvious!
Our last target for this episode is also right
in the neighborhood. We're going to search
out Messier 78, another emission nebula. To
find this puff of nebulosity, we will again
start from Zeta Orionis. Ready? This is a
simple one.
About 5 degrees to the left, there is a 5th
magnitude star, 56 Orionis. Draw an imaginary
line between Zeta and 56. Move your scope
to almost exactly half way along this line,
and M78 should come into view. This is not
a terribly bright nebula, glowing at magnitude
8.3, but you should be able to see it fairly
easily in a low power eyepiece.
The Orion region reveals its beauty in wide
field astrophotos like this one from KPO.
You can see the area is just loaded with nebulosity.
An extremely large feature is called Barnard's
Loop, which is this large arc below the main
body of the constellation. This is also an
emission nebula. It's part of the Orion Molecular
Cloud Complex which contains all these other
objects. So we started off with the Orion
Nebula, then moved up to the star Zeta Orionis
in the Belt, where we checked out the Flame
Nebula, and the Horsehead Nebula. Finally
we move up above Zeta and found ourselves
Messier 78, a small emission Nebula.
I hope you've enjoyed star hopping around
the Milky Way. We'll continue to bring you
these astronomy tutorials every couple of
weeks, and if we get inspired, sometimes more
often. They will be designed to help you find
deep sky objects that are up in the sky at
the time we post them to YouTube.
If you found this video useful, please consider
Subscribing to our Channel down there, click
the Thumbs Up, and please share it out to
your friends who like looking at stars. Please
feel free to leave any question or comment
below, and we will be sure to respond quickly.
Also, please follow KPO on Facebook, where
we post all of our astrophotos and keep everyone
informed about upcoming astronomical events.
We'd love to hear from you to discuss all
this great stuff up in the sky.
All the links to these places including our
website kpobservatory.org, can be found below
in the Episode Notes as well.
And finally, if you feel this video provides
you value, and if you'd like to see more,
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Well thanks again for watching, and we'll
see you next time on Star Hopping with Kissimmee
Park Observatory.

