Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  Great Nebula in Orion  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  NGC 1982  ·  The star 42Ori  ·  The star 45Ori  ·  The star θ1Ori  ·  The star θ2Ori  ·  The star ιOri
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M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion, Hap Griffin
M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion
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M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion, Hap Griffin
M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion
Powered byPixInsight

M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion

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Description

The Great Nebula in Orion - one of the most photographed areas of the sky...and for good reason. M42 is the brightest nebula available to us. It is visible to the naked eye as the middle fuzzy "star" in Orion's Sword, and easily seen in some detail in binoculars. At its bright core is a nest of star birth activity, which lights up the surrounding hydrogen cloud. Above the nebula itself is a nearly circular formation, known as M43, with a tangled web of dust obscuring parts of it. An open star cluster, NGC1977, is embedded in the "Running Man Nebula" at the very top of the image.

M42 has proven to be a fertile area for astronomical research. Recently, detailed photographs from the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed stars in various stages of formation, and even "Proplyds", or Protoplanetary Disks which verify the theories of planetary formation around young stars.

M42 lies at a distance of 1600 light-years and is approximately 30 light-years across.

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M42 - The Great Nebula in Orion, Hap Griffin