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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
Mu Cephei
A very luminous red supergiant, Mu Cephei is one of the largest stars visible to the naked eye, and in the entire Galaxy. It is best seen from the Northern hemisphere from August to January.
The star is approximately 1,650 times larger than our sun’s solar radius, and were it placed in the Sun’s position, its radius would reach between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. Mu Cephei could fit almost 4.5 billion suns into its volume. Only five known stars (VY Canis Majoris, KW Sagitarii, KY Cygni, V354 Cephei and VV Cephei) are believed to be larger than it. It is so large that it could fit 6.4 quadrillion Earths in it. If Earth were a golf ball (about 1.7 in/4.3 cm), Mu Cephei would be greater than the length of two Golden Gate Bridges laid end-to-end (about 3.4 mi./5.5 km).
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
