The Orion Nebula | Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes

The Orion Nebula | Hubble & Webb Space Telescopes

This video showcases a portion of the Orion Nebula seen by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, followed by the NASA/European Space Agency/Canadian Space Agency James Webb Space Telescope’s view of the same region. 

The Orion Nebula has been studied by astronomers for hundreds of years, and it has been a frequent target of the Hubble Space Telescope since its launch. This comparison shows the striking difference in views afforded by a visible-light telescope, such as Hubble, and an infrared telescope like Webb.

In Webb’s image, infrared light is able to penetrate the dust, but the heated gas also emits its own infrared light, making for a colourful scene with filaments and cavities. In the Hubble image, which was taken during 2004 and 2005, bubbles of gas appear to float in front of the thick, smoky clouds of the nebula. Numerous new stars, some with protoplanetary discs, are visible across both images.

Credit: European Space Agency (ESA)/Webb, ESA/Hubble, NASA, CSA, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb), N. Bartmann (ESA/Webb), O. Berné and the PDRs4All ERS Team, M. Robberto STScI) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team  

Duration: 30 seconds

Release Date: June 26, 2023

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