Alnitak

Zet

Hot blue star

Its story

Alnitak, Arabic for 'the belt', is the easternmost of the three aligned stars forming Orion's waist. Its O spectral class betrays a scorching temperature: among the hottest stars the unaided eye can distinguish. Its light has been travelling for 736 years; what we see tonight set off when crusaders contested the Holy Land and the University of Paris had yet to be founded.

Constellation: Orion
Apparent magnitude: 1.74
Distance: 736.3 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 85.190° · Dec -1.943°
Catalogue: HIP 26727 · HD 37742

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Symbolic commemorative gift — no ownership, no IAU recognition.