Towards Barnard's Loop
05 Jun 2017Robert Phillips
One of the brightest stars in the sky between Betelgeuse and Barnards Loops is Mintaka (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mintaka). It is a binary star system, with it's primary star being an an O-Type star, and it's binary partner a Black Hole. The system itself feels lifeless, hosting a gas giant, a few Brown Dwarf stars, and lifeless rocky planets.It does, however, line up nicely with all the nebulae that make up Barnard's Loop, and the lens distortion effect from Mintaka B provides a great view of it:
There is a planetary nebula at CD-26 1339, also known as the NGC 1360 Nebula. It is similar to Mintaka in that it is home to a binary star system. Again, the primary star is an O-Type star (albeit much larger than Mintaka A), and it's binary partner is also a Black Hole. The mass of it's primary star means it is orbited by several high mass objects - in this case 6 x Class M stars, 1 x Class A star, and 1 x Brown Dwarf (as well as a few small lifeless planets).
It's greatest feature is the bright blue planetary nebula itself, which gives the sky inside a brilliant hue. When aligned just right, you can see some awesome sights:
Continuing the tour of nebulae in this region, I head out to the tiny Spirograph Nebula (IC 418) at BD-12 1172. It doesn't look like much from the outside (and it's difficult to get a good view of it from outside, as it's so small), but inside it has a turquoise tint which gives planet surfaces an eerie green glow:
Quite unique.