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Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion is an intriguing place. Visible to the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation of Orion. But this image, an illusory-color four-panel mosaic taken in different bands of infrared light with the Earth orbiting WISE observatory, shows the Orion Nebula to be a bustling neighborhood of recently formed stars, hot gas, and dark dust. The power behind much of the Orion Nebula (M42) is the stars of the Trapezium star cluster, seen near the center of the featured image. The orange glow surrounding the bright stars pictured here is their own starlight reflected by intricate dust filaments that cover much of the region. The current Orion Nebula cloud complex, which includes the Horsehead Nebula, will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.
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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 - Orion Nebula - infrared
Publications with words: Orion - Orion Nebula - infrared
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 4 Á M42: The Great Nebula in Orion
- APOD: 2024 September 10 Á Horsehead and Orion Nebulas
- APOD: 2024 January 31 Á Camera Orion Rising
- APOD: 2024 January 16 Á The Orion You Can Almost See
- Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
- APOD: 2023 October 10 Á Hidden Orion from Webb
- Orion and the Running Man