This nebula is one of the most magnificent telescopic objects in the heavens, yet it is more than 600 light years distant!
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The constellation of Orion is perhaps the best known of all constellations to the lay-man. It is particularly conspicuous during the evening hours of the late winter months. It lies southeast of Taurus, and directly across the equator between the fifth and sixth hours of right ascension.
This region is the finest part of the whole sky for observation with a telescope.
There are many legends concerning Orion, but they are varied and conflicting in details. However, all of them picture Orion as a mighty hunter, a giant of a man who stands with a club firmly grasped in his right hand and the skin of a lion, slain by himself, in the other.
Orion is known as "The Warrior," but ironically, he was killed by a woman. He was the son of Hyrieus (or Poseidon). He was a mighty man, of great beauty and gigantic strength. Eos, the dawn goddess, loved him, but when she carried him off to Delos, Artemis slew him with her arrows. According to some legends, Artemis herself loved him, and was deceived by the angry Apollo into shooting him by mistake.
After his death he was changed into the constellation. When it rose early it was a sign of summer; when late, of winter and stormy weather; and when it rose at midnight, it heralded the season of vintage.
There are two stars of the first magnitude in Orion. One of them is the white star, Rigel; the other is the red giant, Betelgeuse. Rigel is in the lower part of the constellation. It is located approximately 8° south of the equator. The star itself is probably 500 light years distant, and is visible as a bright star by reason of its 10,000 times the luminosity of our own sun.
Betelgeuse is 20° northeast of Rigel, and is less than half the distance away. It is only one-tenth as bright. However, it is a tremendous star, being 27 million times as great as the sun. This makes it one of the most gigantic of all stars.
Orion's "belt" is a row of three stars of the second magnitude, running in a line drawn from southeast to northwest. Below this is a row of three fainter stars lying almost parallel to an hour circle, which constitute Orion's sword.
It is the central of these three stars which is the great Nebula in Orion. It appears to be a bit fuzzy, as though seen through a mist. Viewed with a large telescope, it is one of the most awe-inspiring sights in the heavens.
Unlike the so-called Great Nebula in Andromeda, this nebula is actually what it is called. It is composed of faintly luminous masses of gas of enormous volume. J. C. Kapteyn says it is more than 600 light years away, and, since it covers more than a square degree in the sky, its diameter is approximately 10 light years. This gives us a diameter of 700,000 times the distance from the sun to the earth (the distance to the sun is 93 million miles). Such a vast object is almost beyond comprehension.
Artist Frank R. Paul has pictured for us a very accurate scene on a planet of the system of Rigel. From here, the nebula would look very much as be has painted it, with colors almost beyond description.
In depicting this nebula, artist Paul has also pictured the type of life be imagines might exist on such a mighty world as could be a part of the System of Rigel.
He shows us giant lizards, populating a grim, savage, youthful world. He shows us one of the monsters in the grip of a giant clam. In the air, giant pterodactyls fly about, ready to descend like vultures on the lizard-giant which falls prey to the clams and dies, unable to extricate itself.
Science does not know much about the nature of, or the reason for these giant nebulae. It seems that they are tenuous clouds of gases which sweep slowly in a vast whirlpool. The clouds are so tenuous that if we were situated at the middle of the Great Nebula, we would be unaware of its presence except perhaps for a faint misty glow in the sky, which might obscure our vision of the stars somewhat. It moves so slowly that hundreds of years of observations show no appreciable movement.
The theory is that these giant clouds of gas eventually condense into matter which will ultimately form a new sun. However, there have been many arguments against this theory, and the real nature of the nebula is still a matter for conjecture.
As far as we are concerned it will never be anything else than a wonderful spectacle.
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