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From: dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd)
Newsgroups: net.astro
Subject: StarDate: September 30 Photograph of a Cloud
Message-ID: <770@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 30-Sep-85 02:00:18 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.770
Posted: Mon Sep 30 02:00:18 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 4-Oct-85 04:16:50 EDT
Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX
Lines: 39

The Orion Nebula is a cloud in space that you can see with just your
eye.  More -- after this.

September 30  Photograph of a Cloud

A famous first photograph was taken on this date in the year 1880.  It
was a photograph of the Orion Nebula, a giant cloud of gas and dust --
a kind of celestial incubator where many new stars are forming.

The nebula is located in the constellation Orion the hunter.  It's now
in the sky after midnight -- but it'll be rising earlier as the months
pass.  In the constellation Orion, the nebula appears as a
fuzzy-looking star -- located in the sword of the hunter.

Even if you've never seen the nebula in the sky, you've probably seen
it in photographs or posters.  In fact, you might be a little
disappointed if you saw a photograph of the Orion Nebula before seeing
the real thing.  Photographs of astronomical objects tend to look more
colorful and spectacular than the same objects seen through the
eyepiece of a telescope.  Light can build up over time on photographic
film, which makes the picture brighter.  But your eye can't build up an
image like this, no matter how long you stare at something.

Through a telescope, the Orion Nebula looks faintly greenish.  You can
see dark winding lanes of dust, and four young stars.  These stars --
called the Trapezium -- are what cause the cloud to shine.

Once you try looking at things through telescopes, you'll probably find
them more beautiful than any photograph.  The eye can detect subtleties
that are lost on film.  If you ever get to look through a telescope,
remember -- the view may not look like a photograph -- but with some
practice, it can look better!


Script by Deborah Byrd.



(c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin


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