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Alnitak or Zeta Orionis is a multiple star system at the eastern end of Orion's belt. It is a 1.79 apparent magnitude blue-white supergiant, 30 000 times more luminous than the Sun. Its absolute magnitude is -6.6. The name is taken from the Arabic Al Nitak or the girdle. It has at least two companion stars of magnitudes 4.0 and 10.2. The magnitude 1.9 and 4.0 stars are separated by 2.3 arcseconds. The Alnitak system is bathed in the nebulosity of IC 434.
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