Astronomy Picture of the Day
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2014 April 8
M42: Inside the Orion Nebula
Image Credit:
R. Villaverde,
Hubble Legacy Archive,
NASA
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
above deep image composite in assigned colors taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope
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.
Astrophysicists:
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Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(
MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell (
UMCP)
NASA Official: Phillip Newman
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