The Great Nebula in
Orion, an immense, nearby starbirth
region, is probably the most famous of all astronomical
nebulas. Here, glowing
gas surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular
cloud only 1500 light-years
away. In the above deep
image composite in assigned colors taken by the Hubble Space
Telescope wisps and sheets of dust and gas are
particularly evident. The Great Nebula in
Orion can be found with the unaided eye near the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular
constellation
Orion. In
addition to housing a bright open cluster of
stars known as the Trapezium, the Orion Nebula contains many stellar
nurseries. These nurseries contain much hydrogen gas, hot young
stars, proplyds, and stellar
jets spewing material at high speeds. Also known as M42, the Orion Nebula spans about 40 light
years and is located in the same spiral arm of
our Galaxy as the Sun.
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