Flight Through The Orion Nebula in Visible Light | Space Telescope Science Institute
This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope.
As the camera flies into the star-forming region, it reveals a glowing gaseous landscape that has been illuminated and carved by the high-energy radiation and strong stellar winds from the massive hot stars in the central cluster. The high-resolution visible observations show fine details including the wispy bow shocks and tadpole-shaped proplyds.
The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula in the Milky Way situated south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion. It is known as the middle "star" in the "sword" of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. The Orion Nebula is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. M42 is estimated to be 25 light-years across (so its apparent size from Earth is approximately 1 degree). It has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun.
Distance from Earth: 1,500 light-years
Visualization: F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, L. Frattare, M. Robberto and L. Hustak (STScI)
Acknowledgement: R. Gendler
Duration: 2 minutes, 17 seconds
Release Date: Oct. 23, 2025
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