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Credit & Copyright: Josep M. Drudis &
Don Goldman
Explanation:
The Great Nebula in Orion,
an immense, nearby
starbirth region,
is probably the most famous of all
astronomical nebulas.
Here, glowing gas
surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an
immense interstellar
molecular cloud only 1500
light-years away.
In the featured deep image in
assigned colors highlighted by
emission in
oxygen and
hydrogen,
wisps and sheets of dust and gas are particularly evident.
The Great Nebula in Orion
can be found with the unaided eye near the
easily identifiable
belt of three stars in the popular constellation
Orion.
In addition to housing a bright
open cluster of stars known as the
Trapezium, the
Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries.
These nurseries contain much
hydrogen gas,
hot young stars,
proplyds, and
stellar jets
spewing material at high speeds.
Also known as
M42, the
Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same
spiral arm of
our Galaxy as the
Sun.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Orion Nebula - M 42
Publications with words: Orion Nebula - M 42
See also: