Hot times in the old homestead:
The Orion Nebula in infrared
Early yesterday, while I produced some star maps to go with a friend's natal chart, I dialed up my own birthdate and made a new discovery: the Orion Nebula was precisely aligned with the horizon when I was born.
I was amused and excited to see this, as I've had a long -- lifelong -- attraction to Orion. I can recall sneaking out of the townhouse I shared with my father many years ago in order to walk along the abandoned rail tracks and stare into the night sky. In the fall or the early winter in those years, it seemed that Orion was astride the sky and so immense.
When I lived in New Mexico several years ago, I would stay out in the cold, still air and peer into the nebula with my telescope, discerning its broad curves and thinking that I was almost able to make out those distinct pink hues that are seen in so many photos.
I remember marveling at how the stars in Orion's "head" were in a similar alignment to the large, bright stars in the belt. And how, with maximum magnification and an indirect gaze, I could take in a view of the stellar nursery in the Trapezium.
No wonder, then -- considering its position at my birth -- that Orion's appearance has conveyed such a sense of wonder and reassurance for me. One of the most meaningful apparitions was the night I scattered my father's ashed into the Grand Canyon -- the last place we visited together, along with my mother, a year before he died.
As I conducted my little ceremony from the edge of the cliff, the sky seemed to glow blue-green because of the abundance of stars. It was when I finished, I think, that I noticed Bellatrix and Rigel and the belt stars rising above the North Rim. What a fitting signal for re-emergence and rebirth in the midst of mourning.
Anyhow, with all of this in mind, it was wonderful to see this new image, which was produced from Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope observations... and which was released the same day I made my personal discovery about the nebula's placement.
See "Hail, Osiris" and "Infrared Orion," also. I think that the image in the latter post was used in the new composite.
Also! A Stellar Census of the Sword of Orion
I was amused and excited to see this, as I've had a long -- lifelong -- attraction to Orion. I can recall sneaking out of the townhouse I shared with my father many years ago in order to walk along the abandoned rail tracks and stare into the night sky. In the fall or the early winter in those years, it seemed that Orion was astride the sky and so immense.
When I lived in New Mexico several years ago, I would stay out in the cold, still air and peer into the nebula with my telescope, discerning its broad curves and thinking that I was almost able to make out those distinct pink hues that are seen in so many photos.
I remember marveling at how the stars in Orion's "head" were in a similar alignment to the large, bright stars in the belt. And how, with maximum magnification and an indirect gaze, I could take in a view of the stellar nursery in the Trapezium.
No wonder, then -- considering its position at my birth -- that Orion's appearance has conveyed such a sense of wonder and reassurance for me. One of the most meaningful apparitions was the night I scattered my father's ashed into the Grand Canyon -- the last place we visited together, along with my mother, a year before he died.
As I conducted my little ceremony from the edge of the cliff, the sky seemed to glow blue-green because of the abundance of stars. It was when I finished, I think, that I noticed Bellatrix and Rigel and the belt stars rising above the North Rim. What a fitting signal for re-emergence and rebirth in the midst of mourning.
Anyhow, with all of this in mind, it was wonderful to see this new image, which was produced from Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescope observations... and which was released the same day I made my personal discovery about the nebula's placement.
See "Hail, Osiris" and "Infrared Orion," also. I think that the image in the latter post was used in the new composite.
Also! A Stellar Census of the Sword of Orion
Hot times in the old homestead:
The Orion Nebula in infrared
mr damon, 14:07
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