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Show the direction and distance to this object on the Galactic Map.

Proper Names	Meissa, Heka, Hatya
Bayer Designation	Lambda Orionis
Flamsteed Number	39 Orionis
HR (BSC)	1879
HD	36861
Constellation	Orion
Right Ascension	5h 35m 8s
Declination	+9° 56' 3"
Distance	c.1,100 light years c.300 parsecs
Magnitude	Apparent: +3.4 Absolute: -4.3
Spectral Class	O8III(f) Blue-white giant
Optimum Visibility	December / January
Notes	Meissa is a multiple star, with the O-type primary being orbited by a blue dwarf and two other potential companion stars. Extending for many light years from this star and its cluster is a vast molecular ring, named the Lambda Orionis Ring (Lambda Orionis being Meissa's designation on the Bayer system). This ring is thought to be a remnant of a supernova that erupted in Meissa's vicinity roughly one million years in the past.

The head of Orion the Hunter is formed by a cluster of stars designated Collinder 69, the Lambda Orionis Cluster. In the sky, this cluster lies a little north of a line between Betelgeuse and Bellatrix. Meissa (also called Heka) is its brightest star - an intensely hot body of the O-type spectral classification. It shares the cluster with about twenty other stars.

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