The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion’s Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. Older texts frequently referred to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks, brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula. There are also supersonic ”bullets” of gas piercing the dense hydrogen clouds of the Orion Nebula. Each bullet is ten times the diameter of Pluto’s orbit and tipped with iron atoms glowing bright blue. They were probably formed one thousand years ago from an unknown violent event.  (Wikipedia)

Keyhole Nebula • Carina Nebula (Detail)

The Keyhole is part of a larger region called the Carina Nebula (NGC 3372), about 8,000 light-years from Earth. It is about 7 light-years wide and contains bright filaments of hot, glowing gas and dark silhouetted clouds of cold molecules and dust, all of which are in rapid, chaotic motion. Hubble’s clear view also shows several small, dark globules that may be in the process of collapsing to form new stars. This region is a rich breeding ground for some of the hottest and most massive stars known, each about 10 times as hot and 100 times as hefty as the Sun. The famous explosive variable star Eta Carinae also lies just outside the upper right of the picture.

Click image to download the large size image file (JPG, 2292x1480 px — 4.32 MB)
Source: HubbleSite

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IC1805. The Heart Nebula.

This wide-field view of the Orion Nebula (Messier 42), lying about 1350 light-years from Earth, was taken with the VISTA infrared survey telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. The new telescope’s huge field of view allows the whole nebula and its surroundings to be imaged in a single picture and its infrared vision also means that it can peer deep into the normally hidden dusty regions and reveal the curious antics of the very active young stars buried there. Credit: ESO/J. Emerson/VISTA. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit

via space.com

What is the real “big” is: graphic comparison of astral objects

The Known Universe: An Incredible Film by American Museum of Natural History

“The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world’s most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.”