Sample Regions of The Orion Nebula | European Southern Observatory

Sample Regions of The Orion Nebula | European Southern Observatory

The Orion Nebula (Messier 42) is 1,500 light-years away. It is the nearest star-forming region to Earth within our Milky Way Galaxy. The Orion Nebula is estimated to be 24 light-years across. This 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 and brown dwarfs within the nebula, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the photo-ionizing effects of massive nearby stars in the nebula.

On the upper-left, the central region of Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) view of the Orion Nebula is shown, centered on the four dazzling stars of the Trapezium. A rich cluster of young stars can be seen here that is invisible in normal, visible light images. In the lower-right panel, the part of the nebula to the north of the center is shown. Here there are many young stars embedded in the dust clouds that are only apparent because their infrared glow can penetrate the dust and be detected by the VISTA camera. Many outflows, jets and other interactions from young stars are apparent, seen in the infrared glow from molecular hydrogen and showing up as red blobs. On the upper-right, a region to the west of center is shown. Here the fierce ultraviolet light from the Trapezium is sculpting the gas clouds into curious wavy shapes. A distant edge-on spiral galaxy is also seen shining right through the nebula. At the lower-left a region south of the center is shown. Each extract covers a region of sky about nine arcminutes across.

Learn more about ESO's VISTA:
https://www.eso.org/public/teles-instr/paranal-observatory/surveytelescopes/vista/

Credit: European Southern Observatory (ESO)/J. Emerson/VISTA

Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit
Release Date: Feb. 10, 2010

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