Stargazing News - February 19th, 2025
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All on Tue Feb 18 05:49:17 2025
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
The Top of Orion's Spectacular Sword (evening)
Orion's position within the plane of the Milky Way has populated it with numerous nebulas and star-forming regions. The sword of Orion, which descends from his three-starred belt, contains a chain of worthy targets in addition to the famous Orion Nebula (Messier 42). The top of the sword consists of the scattered stars of NGC 1981. A telescope will reveal about forty 6th to 9th magnitude stars in a 0.5 degree field. The next object, called The Running Man Nebula (Sh2-279), is one the sky's brightest reflection nebulas - composed of blue gas, darker dust, and stars in a package spanning 42 by 26 arc-minutes across. The medium-bright stars 42 and 45 Orionis sit mostly to the south of the gas components NGC1973, NGC1975, and NGC1977.
(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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