It is worth looking at the unusual phenomenon in the sky tonight – a false Orion belt. As Karol Wójcicki, the author of the profile “with the head in the stars”, “is one of those cases when the sky surprises geometry and temporary harmony.”
It is worth looking at the sky on Friday evening. “Something appeared there that may surprise you a lot. You can see the false belt of Orion!” – wrote Karol Wójcicki, author of the profile “with the head in the stars”. “And although the real one is much lower above the horizon, this temporary asterism looks like he was his larger and brighter cousin,” he added.
What is asterism? As astronomy popularizer wrote, this is an informal group of stars (sometimes with planets) that are in a characteristic pattern. They are not included in any of the official constellations. “Examples? Great summer triangle, a large car, hanger – And now the Mars Belt of Gemini” – added Karol Wójcicki.
False belt of Orion in the sky
Why did a false Orion belt appear in the sky? “All thanks to the temporary Mars setting near the two brightest stars of the constellation twins – Pollux and Castor. Mars approached them so much that all three of them begin to arrange almost a perfect line!” – wrote astronomy popularizer. He added that Mars and Pollux shine with a brightness of about 1 magician, and Castor with a brightness of about 2 mag. Magic is a shortcut of Latin magnitude – this unit determines the brightness of the object. The sun is clarity -26 magician, Venus in maximum glow is bright over -4 magicians, and Jupiter around -2.5 mag.
“The whole is arranged in a formation that resembles the Orion belt, i.e. three famous stars from the constellation Orion: Alnitak, Alnila and Mintak, which are bright around 1.7-2 mag” – wrote Karol Wójcicki. “Orion's belt is much smaller and is much lower, just above the line of the southern west horizon. And his” twin “from Mars and twins shines high, shortly after sunset at about 60 degrees” – he added.
As Karol Wójcicki noted, the false belt of Orion “is one of those cases when the sky surprises geometry and temporary harmony.”
Will the weather be conducive to observations?
The next night will be cloudy with greater clearings, and in the east with dissolution. So there is a chance in a part of the country to see an Orion's false belt in the sky. It is to rain in the south, there can be difficult to observe.
Source of the main photo: Shutterstock