Today's Image

New mosaic of Orion Nebula

This composite image of the central region of the Orion Nebula is composed of several pointings of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in optical and near-infrared light. Infrared light allows to peer through the dust of the nebula and to see the stars therein. The revealed stars are shown with a bright red color in the image. Image via ESA.

This new mosaic image of the Orion Nebula – created by astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope – was released yesterday (March 17, 2017) by ESA. The large composite image of the nebula’s central region is a combination of visual and near-infrared data.

The Orion Nebula is the closest region of star formation, only 1,400 light-years away from Earth. As ESA described it in a statement:

It is a turbulent place — stars are being born, planetary systems are forming and the radiation unleashed by young massive stars is carving cavities in the nebula and disrupting the growth of smaller, nearby stars.

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Bottom line: New mosaic image of the Orion Nebula from the Hubble Space Telescope.

Read more about the image from ESA

Posted 
March 18, 2017
 in 
Today's Image

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