Orion Nebula

  • Orion in Negative
  • Orion Sky Chart
  • The Whole Orion Nebula The Orion Nebula is an emission nebula powered by the UV light from hot young OB stars (no more that a million years old). It is about 1500 lyr away. Its diameter is about 30 lyr: about 1 degree on the sky or twice the diameter of the Moon. It is visible to the naked-eye and rewarding with a telescope. The nebula is comprised of M42 and M43 which here appear as the large left-hand pink cloud and a smaller right-hand reflection nebula. (M stands for Messier nebula.) Behind, invisible, and much broader is a dark, dusty nebula where more young stars are forming. This cloud extends over about half of Orion or 10 degrees. The Orion Nebula is appears middle star in Orion's sword. The left-hand side of the left bright region (M42) is centered on the Trapezium cluster of young stars four large stars: the four brightest stars are the Trapezium. (Frak399--400)
  • The Trapezium Region This is image shows the Trapezim region: the Trapezium at the center. The images is several light-years on a side. The colors are tuned to resemble what a super-sensitive eye would see.
  • An HST Image of Trapezium This shows the great resolving power of the HST. A false color image.