Star-birthing Region in the Orion Nebula

In this tiny section of the huge Orion Nebula, clouds of dust and gas churn out stars.

The gasses within the nebula are illuminated and heated by ultraviolet light from four hot, massive stars. The magnificent detail revealed by Hubble shows a turbulent star factory set within a churning maelstrom of flowing, luminescent gas. This 2.5-light-year-wide view is only a small portion of the entire nebula, but it includes a star cluster and almost all of the light from the bright glowing clouds of gas that make up the nebula.

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Object Name: Orion Nebula, M42, NGC 1976

Release Date: Nov 20, 1995

Image Credits: NASA, C.R. O'Dell and S.K. Wong (Rice University)



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