The Orion Nebula from CFHT
Explanation:
Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the
nearby stellar nursery known as the
Orion Nebula.
The Nebula's glowing gas surrounds hot young stars at
the edge of an immense interstellar
molecular cloud only 1500
light-years away.
The
Great Nebula in Orion can be
found with the unaided eye just below and to the left of the
easily identifiable
belt of three stars in the popular
constellation Orion.
The
above image from the
3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope atop a
dormant volcano in Hawaii brings out
Orion's detail in spectacular fashion.
Buried in the complex nebulosity are the bright stars of the
Trapezium in
Orion's heart, the sweeping lanes of
dark dust that cross the center,
the pervasive
red glowing hydrogen gas,
and the
blue tinted dust
that reflects the light of newborn stars.
The whole
Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes
the
Horsehead Nebula,
will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
