Orion above Easter Island
Explanation:
Why were the statues on
Easter Island built?
No one is sure.
What is sure is that over 800 large stone statues exist there.
The
Easter Island statues, stand, on the average, over
twice as tall as a person and have over 200 times as much mass.
Few specifics are known about the history or meaning of the
unusual rock sculptures,
but many believe that they were created about 700 years ago in the
images
of local leaders of a lost civilization.
Featured here, one of the ancient
Moai sculptures
was imaged in 2016 before
the
constellation of Orion, including the famous line of
three belt stars and brilliant stars
Betelgeuse (far left in red) and
Rigel (upper center).
The
stone
giant appears, however, to be
inspecting the brightest star in the night sky (far right):
Sirius.
Follow APOD on:
Facebook,
Google Plus,
Instagram, or
Twitter
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
