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 1976  ·  NGC 1977  ·  NGC 1980  ·  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  ·  the Running Man Nebula
The Orion Nebula M42, starpaul
The Orion Nebula M42
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The Orion Nebula M42

The Orion Nebula M42, starpaul
The Orion Nebula M42
Powered byPixInsight

The Orion Nebula M42

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The Orion Nebula is 12ly across and 1344ly distant from Earth with apparent dimensions of 65'x60'.  It is quite large in the night sky at twice the diameter of the moon, but still only faintly visible to the naked eye.   For a deep space object, it is very bright at magnitude 4 and a small telescope can reveal its structure in staggering detail.  The Crab Nebula has a comparable diameter of 11.5ly, but at 5x the distance it appears much smaller in the sky.

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The Orion Nebula M42, starpaul