Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Orion (Ori)  ·  Contains:  41 Ori A)  ·  41 Ori C  ·  41 Ori D  ·  42 Ori)  ·  43 Ori)  ·  44 Ori)  ·  Great Orion Nebula  ·  Lower Sword  ·  M 42  ·  M 43  ·  Mairan's Nebula  ·  NGC 1973  ·  NGC 1975  ·  NGC 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  NGC 1981  ·  NGC 1982  ·  Orion Nebula  ·  The star 45 Ori  ·  The star Hatysa (ι Ori  ·  The star Mizan Batil I (c Ori  ·  The star Mizan Batil II (θ2 Ori  ·  The star Trapezium (θ1 Ori A  ·  The star θ1 Ori C  ·  The star θ1 Ori D  ·  Upper Sword  ·  the Running Man Nebula
Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09, AstroPoverty
The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09
Powered byPixInsight

The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09, AstroPoverty
The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09
Powered byPixInsight

The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Orion Nebula is an active star forming region in our galaxy that lies approximately 1350 light years distant. Many of the stars below are very young (only several 100,000 years old) and were formed from the gas and dust you see surrounding them. Regions like this are also known as "stellar nurseries". The red regions are hydrogen gas (primary star formation gas) that have been ionized by energy from a very near star. This is also known as plasma and is the same thing you find in many televisions today. The blue/grey regions are primarily dust and some hydrogen (and other) gas that are not close enough to an energy source (star) to be ionized. As such they end up reflecting light in the blue spectrum.

Comments

Sky plot

Sky plot

Histogram

The Orion Nebula - 10/16/09, AstroPoverty