Orion climbs across the south tonight, marked by his distinctive three-starred belt. To the east of mighty Orion is the much fainter constellation Monoceros, the unicorn. It's not much to look at, but it hosts some powerful
Orion climbs across the south tonight, marked by his distinctive three-starred belt. To the east of mighty Orion is the much fainter constellation Monoceros, the unicorn. It's not much to look at, but it hosts some powerful stars.
An example is the system known as S Monocerotis. It actually consists of two stars that orbit each other once every 24 years.
Both stars are so hot that they emit most of their energy not as visible light, but as ultraviolet light, whose wavelength is shorter than the human eye can see.
As the ultraviolet energy streaks through the galaxy, it tears electrons from hydrogen atoms in big clouds of gas around the stars. When the electrons rejoin the hydrogen atoms, they produce red light. So this region of Monoceros abound