Observation History
Alnitak has been known since antiquity and, as a component of Orion's belt, has been of widespread cultural significance. It was reported to be a double star by amateur German astronomer George K. Kunowsky in 1819. Much more recently, in 1998, the bright primary was found by a team from the Lowell Observatory to have a close companion; this had been suspected from observations made with the Narrabri Stellar Intensity Interferometer in the 1970s. Initially thought to be around 1500 light years distant, the Alnitak system's distance was determined to be roughly half that via measurement of its stellar parallax by the Hipparcos satellite.
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