Reflection Nebula M78 in Orion | Mayall Telescope

Reflection Nebula M78 in Orion | Mayall Telescope

This image of M78, the brightest diffuse reflection nebula in the sky, was taken in 2006 with the Mosaic imager on the Mayall 4-meter telescope on Kitt Peak. Located about 1,600 light-years away and around 4 light-years across, M78 is part of the Orion complex, a large region of star-forming gas and dust.

M78 was discovered by Pierre Méchain in 1780 and included by Charles Messier in his catalog of comet-like objects that same year.

The Nicholas U. Mayall Telescope is a four-meter (158 inches) reflector telescope in Arizona named after Nicholas U. Mayall. It saw first light on February 27, 1973, and was the second-largest telescope in the world at that time.

Credit: T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (WIYN and NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)

Release Date: Aug. 9, 2006

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