M43: Dust, Gas, and Stars in the Orion Nebula
Unspeakable beauty and unimaginable bedlam can be found together in the Orion Nebula
Arguably the most famous of all astronomy nebulas, the
Great Nebula in Orion is an
immense interstellar
molecular cloud only 1500
light-years away.
In the featured deep image shown in assigned colors, the
part of the nebula's center known as M43 is shown as taken by the
Hubble Space Telescope.
The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the
unaided eye near the
easily identifiable
belt of three stars in the popular constellation
Orion.
The entire Orion Nebula, including both
M42 and
M43 spans about 40
light years and is located in the same
spiral arm of
our Galaxy as the
Sun.