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Alnilam
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Alnilam is the central star of Orion's Belt in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation ε Orionis, which is Latinised to Epsilon Orionis and abbreviated Epsilon Ori or ε Ori. This is a massive, blue supergiant star some 1,250 light-years distant. It is estimated to be 270,000 times as luminous as the Sun, and 28 times as massive.
Alnilam is the middle star in Orion's Belt, a bright and easily recognizable feature in the night sky. It is a massive blue supergiant star located about 1,250 light-years away that shines roughly 270,000 times brighter than our Sun and weighs about 28 times as much.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
~5 min read
Encyclopedic overview
8 sectionsContents
- Observation
- Physical characteristics
- Nomenclature and history
- Orion's Belt
- See also
- Notes
- References
- External links
Alnilam is the central star of Orion's Belt in the equatorial constellation of Orion. It has the Bayer designation ε Orionis, which is Latinised to Epsilon Orionis and abbreviated Epsilon Ori or ε Ori. This is a massive, blue supergiant star some 1,250 light-years distant. It is estimated to be 270,000 times as luminous as the Sun, and 28 times as massive.
==Observation== thumb|left|Alnilam is the middle and brightest of the three stars of Orion's Belt. It is the 29th-brightest star in the sky (the fourth brightest in Orion) and is a blue supergiant. Together with Mintaka and Alnitak, the three stars make up Orion's Belt, known by many names across many ancient cultures. Alnilam is the middle star.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Alnilam” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.