Other stars in the Orion constellation
Other stars in Orion
Directly below Betelgeuse, and across from Rigel is Saiph, also known as Kappa Orionis. It is a blue-white super giant, 720 light years away.
And now on to the three stars that make up Orion’s belt. Below the beautiful Betelgeuse is Alnitak (also called Zeta Orionis), a hot blue super giant and the brightest O Class star in the sky. A double star with a combined magnitude of 1.8, it lies about 800 light years away. Next to Alnitak is Alnilam, Epsilon Orionis. It is a hot B class super giant. It is 1300 light years from earth. The final star in Orion’s belt is Mintaka (Delta Orionis). It is over 900 light years away and is also a double star like Alnitak.
Any visit to Orion would not be complete without mention of the wonderful Orion Nebula, that hazy patch lying below the three starred belt. Also known as M42 and M43, this is a vast cloud of swirling gas containing very young stars.
These pages on Orion are based on the blog written by Syd Turner , hikingthunderbay.wordpress.com/2007/12/31/orion