Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ T. Megeath (University of Toledo)

Orion's Inner Beauty

This infrared image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows the Orion nebula, our closest massive star-making factory, 1,450 light-years from Earth. The nebula is close enough to appear to the naked eye as a fuzzy star in the sword of the popular hunter constellation.

The nebula itself is located on the lower half of the image, surrounded by a ring of dust. It formed in a cold cloud of gas and dust and contains about 1,000 young stars. These stars illuminate the cloud, creating the beautiful nebulosity, or swirls of material, seen here in infrared.

This image shows infrared light captured by Spitzer's infrared array camera. Light with wavelengths of 8 and 5.8 microns (red and orange) comes mainly from dust that has been heated by starlight. Light of 4.5 microns (green) shows hot gas and dust; and light of 3.6 microns (blue) is from starlight.

About the Object	Object Name: Orion Nebula Object Type: Nebula, Star-Forming Region Position (J2000): RA: 5h35m14.1s Dec: -05d22m23s Distance: 1450 light-years Constellation: Orion
About the Data	Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Megeath (University of Toledo) Instrument: Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Wavelength: 3.6, 4.5, 5.8 and 8.0 microns Exposure Date: February 16 and 18, 2004, March 9, 2004, October 8, 12, and 27, 2004 Exposure Time: 41.6 seconds per position Field of View: 0.77 x 1.44 deg Orientation: North is Up Release Date: 14 August 2006
Observers	Tom Megeath (University of Toledo) Rob Gutermuth (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) Joe Hora (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) Lori Allen (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) Kevin Flaherty (Steward Observatory) John Stauffer (SSC) Lee Hartmann (University of Michigan) James Muzerolle (Steward Observatory) Phil Myers (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory) Nick Siegler (Steward Observatory) Erick Young (Steward Observatory) Giovanni Fazio (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory)

Individual Images

Full-Resolution IRAC Image Screen-Resolution (242x450): JPEG High-Resolution (3220x6000): JPEG | Mac TIFF | PC TIFF Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ T. Megeath (University of Toledo)

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