Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula (NGC 1796, M42) is located about 1344 light-years from Willingboro. Its width is approximately 24 light-years, so its apparent size is about 1 degree, which makes it visible to the naked eye.

The nebula is an enormous cloud of dust and gas where vast numbers of new stars are being forged. This stellar nursery has been known to many different cultures throughout human history. The Mayans even thought of the Orion Nebula as the fire of creation.

Be that as it may, the nebula contains hundreds of very hot, young (a million years or so) stars clustered about a nexus of four massive stars known as the Trapezium. Radiation from these stars excites the nebula to glow. However, ultraviolet light unleashed by the Trapezium stars is carving a cavity in the nebula and disrupting the growth of hundreds of smaller stars in that region.  But, don’t fret, most of the stars in this emerging cluster are veiled behind the Orion Nebula itself, and form the great stellar nursery in Orion’s Sword.