Space

Fly through the Orion Nebula

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May 24, 2018

Astronomers and visualization specialists from NASA’s Universe of Learning program combined the visible and infrared capabilities of the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes to create this three-minute, three-dimensional, fly-through movie of the magnificent Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula, a nearby stellar nursery, is an enormous cloud of gas and dust, one of many in our Milky Way galaxy. It lies roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth. At some 30 to 40 light-years in diameter, this great big nebulous cocoon is giving birth to perhaps a thousand stars.

More about the Orion Nebula, including how to find it in your sky, here.

To create the movie, the team from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Caltech/IPAC in Pasadena, California, used actual scientific data along with Hollywood techniques to produce the most detailed multi-wavelength visualization yet of the Orion Nebula.

Bottom line: New 3D Orion Nebula fly-through visualization from NASA.

Eleanor Imster

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About the Author:

Eleanor Imster has helped write and edit EarthSky since 1995. She was an integral part of the award-winning EarthSky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. She and her husband live in Tennessee, where they enjoy guitar playing and singing. They have 2 grown sons.