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About the Object
Color Mapping
Astrometrics
The Sword of Orion
This image shows a visible light view of the famous Orion nebula and its surrounding cloud, an industrious star-making region located near the hunter constellation's sword. The image is from the National Optical Astronomy Observatory, headquartered in Tucson, Ariz.
In addition to Orion, two other nebulas can be seen. The Orion nebula, or M42, is the largest and takes up the lower half of the image; the small nebula to the upper left of Orion is called M43; and the medium-sized nebula at the top is NGC 1977.
Above the Orion nebula, where the massive stars have not yet ejected much of the obscuring dust, the visible image appears dark with only a faint glow.
Related Media
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News Release NASA's Spitzer Digs Up Troves of Possible Solar Systems in Orion ssc2006-16 |
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Image Orion's Inner Beauty ssc2006-16a |
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Image The Sword of Orion ssc2006-16b |
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Image The Infrared Hunter ssc2006-16c |
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Image A Slice of Orion ssc2006-16d |
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Video Journey to Orion ssc2006-16v1 |
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Video Orion Nebula (Gallery Explorer) hiddenuniverse026 |
Image Components
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Image Orion in the Infrared ssc2006-16a1 |
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Image The Sword of Orion ssc2006-16c1 |
