"Orion's Finger" in Nearby Giant Nebula Messier 42

"Orion's Finger" in Nearby Giant Nebula Messier 42

Astrophotographer StrongmanMike2002: "Over many years now, when viewing wider field shots of M42, my eye has often been drawn to this finger shaped bit of nebula. A regular thought over the years has been. I've never seen a close up shot of this cool little globule, I should shoot it one day . . . so, finally, ta daaah!"

Globules are dense dust clouds generally associated with large hydrogen-emitting star-formation regions that give off the glowing light of hydrogen gas.

A pareidolia is an optical illusion that makes us see a familiar pattern, where there is none. 

Pareidolia: Dictionaries describe this term as a human tendency to see recognizable shapes in objects or data that are otherwise not familiar to us.

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way situated south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion, and is known as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. It is 1,344 ± 20 light-years (412.1 ± 6.1 pc) away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. Observations of the nebula have revealed approximately 700 stars in various stages of formation within it. M42 is estimated to be 25 light-years across. It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. 

Image Credit: StrongmanMike2002

Capture Location: Eagleview Observatory, Australia
Capture Date: Feb. 10, 2025
Release Date: Feb. 15, 2025

#NASA #Astronomy #Space #Science #Stars #Nebulae #Nebula #Globule #OrionsFinger #Messier42 #M42 #NGC1976 #OrionNebula #StellarNursery #Orion #Constellation #MilkyWayGalaxy #Cosmos #Universe #Telescope #Astrophotography #Astrophotographer #StrongmanMike2002 #CitizenScience #Australia #STEM #Education