Astrophotograph of Orion's Belt.

Orion's Belt or The Belt of Orion is an asterism in the constellation Orion. It consists of the three bright stars: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

Looking for Orion's Belt in the night sky is the easiest way to locate the constellation Orion in the sky. In the Northern hemisphere, Orion's Belt is best visible in the night sky during the month of January at around 9.00 pm.^[1]

Component stars[link]

Alnitak[link]

Alnitak is approximately 736 light years away from Earth and, taking into consideration ultraviolet radiation, which the human eye cannot see, Alnitak is 100,000 times more luminous than the Sun.^[2]

Alnilam[link]

Alnilam is approximately 1340 light years away from earth and shines with magnitude 1.70. Considering ultraviolet light Alnilam is 375,000 times more luminous than the Sun.^[3]

Mintaka[link]

Mintaka is 915 light years away and shines with magnitude 2.21. Mintaka is 90,000 times more luminous than the Sun. Mintaka is a double star. Both stars orbit around each other every 5.73 days.^[4]

References in History and Culture[link]

The same three stars are known in Spain and Brazil as "The Three Marys". They also mark the northern night sky when the sun is at its lowest point, and were a clear marker for ancient timekeeping. In the Philippines and Puerto Rico they are called the Three Kings.^[5] The stars start appearing around the holiday of Epiphany, when the Biblical Magi visited the baby Jesus, which falls on January 6.

Richard Hinckley Allen lists many folk names for the Belt of Orion. The English ones include: Jacob's Rod or Staff; Peter's Staff; the Golden Yard-arm; the L, or Ell; the Ell and Yard; the Yard-stick, and the Yard-wand; the Ellwand; Our Lady's Wand; the Magi; the Three Kings; the Three Marys; or simply the Three Stars.^[6]

The passage "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?" is found in the Bible's Book of Job.

In the Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever, Capt. James T. Kirk tells Edith Keeler that "a hundred years or so from now", a famous novelist will write a classic using the theme "Let me help" and indicates that he will come from "a planet circling that far left star in Orion's belt."

Gallery[link]

See also[link]

• Orion (constellation)
• Orion's Sword
• Thornborough Henges
• Orion Correlation Theory

References[link]

Free the Robots (born Chris Alfaro) is an underground hip hop producer from Santa Ana, California.

Style[link]

Free the Robots pulls together jazz, psychedelic music, electronic music and hip hop, with progressive melodies and devastating drums. His techniques create harmony between genres with the blending of obscure samples with analog and digital compositions.

History[link]

Free the Robots started as a side project by Chris Alfaro in 2003, while also playing with different bands, DJing, producing tracks for rappers. Having worked with so many different styles of music, Free the Robots brought everything together under one roof, allowing further exploration. With the use of samples, controllers, and other live instruments, he creates a balance between the sounds of the past, present and future. He has reached a worldwide audience since its beginnings and found its place among the top artists in this genre, sharing the stage with the likes of Prefuse 73, Flying Lotus, The Glitch Mob, Afrika Bambaataa and more.^[1] In 2010, Free the Robots shared the stage with The Gaslamp Killer and Daedelus at the Masquerade Venue in Atlanta, Georgia. His debut album Ctrl Alt Del, which features Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, was released on Alpha Pup Records in 2010.^[2][3]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Ctrl Alt Delete (2010)

EPs[link]

• The Mind's Eye (2011)

Productions[link]

• "Least Favorite Rapper" by Busdriver on Jhelli Beam (2009)
• "DSD2" by Nocando on Jimmy the Lock (2010)
• "Unibrow" by Busdriver on Computer Cooties (2010)
• "10 Haters" by Flash Bang Grenada on 10 Haters (2011)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Free the Robots on Myspace
• Free the Robots on Tumblr
• Free the Robots on Twitter
• Free the Robots on Alpha Pup Records
• Free The Robots Interview by VibeRated.com

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