Orion's sword

In the ancient Greek legend, Orion was a hunter. In fact he was such an important character that a constellation was named after him.

The constellation of Orion is prominent in the winter night sky and is found by looking for the three stars in a line that make up Orion's belt. From the belt hangs a small sword (or dagger) and with the unaided eye this usually looks like a few faint stars and smudge of light. Back in December I took several 15 second exposures of the sword using my digital camera set to full zoom. I had forgotten about them, so I've only just got around to adding the frames together. To take the pictures I placed my camera on a mini tripod which remained fixed during each exposure. Despite each exposure lasting only 15 seconds the apparent movement of the stars, due to the Earth's rotation, causes the stars to look like lines.

Sword of Orion
Orions sword. Created by adding six 15 second exposures. CREDIT: Stuart
In the middle of the sword you can even make out the smudge that is M42 - the Orion Nebula. My image isn't as brilliant or as beautiful as some, but I'm still impressed by such a simple setup.

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Posted in astro blog by Stuart on Tuesday 03rd Jan 2006 (21:06 UTC) | 6 Comments | Permalink

Comments: Orion's sword

Hey, that's pretty good! *Frowns in general direction of camera that can only manage two-second exposures*

Posted by Megan on Wednesday 04th Jan 2006 (20:58 UTC)

It looks pretty good to me, and is also the home to the Flame nebula; that and M42 are next on my list if the clouds go away.

Posted by Tom on Wednesday 04th Jan 2006 (23:59 UTC)

looks good i have only been reserching orions sword because my girlfriend and i both look up at it when we miss eachother seems kind of sad but it means alot to us and i just wanted to know more

Posted by tony on Saturday 11th Feb 2006 (22:04 UTC)

Tony, Orion is my favourite constellation partly because it is so prominent, but also because you can see it from the majority of populated places on the Earth. So, as you say, loved-ones can watch a common point in the night sky and that can be reassuring.

Posted by Stuart on Saturday 11th Feb 2006 (22:20 UTC)

Twas beautiful.Orion is my favourite constellation so far. U know it reminds me of William Perry.I had long been searching for a site dat can provide me with informations about constellations.The "constellation guide" is really worth viewing. Thanx for quenching my thirst..

Posted by Linda BUll on Tuesday 30th Jan 2007 (13:01 UTC)

Your post is so interesting. Inspiring and educational. Keep up the good work. I love this blog!

Posted by Busby SEO Challenge on Tuesday 26th Aug 2008 (08:59 UTC)

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