Saturday, January 25, 2025

The Spectacular Orion Nebula (all night)

The bright stars of mighty Orion, the Hunter, shine in the southeastern sky during evening in January. Orion's sword, which covers an area of 1.5 by 1 degrees, descends from Orion's three-starred belt. The patch of light in the middle of the sword is the spectacular and bright nebula known as the Orion Nebula (or Messier 42 and NGC 1976). While binoculars will reveal the fuzzy nature of this object, medium-to-large aperture backyard telescopes will show complex veils of gas and dark dust lanes, and the Trapezium Cluster, a tight clump of young stars that formed from the nebula's collapsing gas. The nebula and its internal stars are located approximately 1,350 light-years from the
sun in the Orion arm of our Milky Way galaxy.

(Data courtesy of Starry Night)
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* Origin: CJ's Place, Orange City FL > cjsplace.thruhere.net (21:2/156)