APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Water in Orion
Explanation: Is Orion all wet? Recent observations have confirmed that water molecules now exist in the famous Orion Nebula , and are still forming. The Orion Nebula (M42, shown above) is known to be composed mostly of hydrogen gas , with all other atoms and molecules being comparatively rare. The nebula is so vast , though, that even the measured minuscule production rate creates enough water to fill Earth 's oceans 60 times over every day, speculate discoverers led by M. Harwit ( Cornell ). The water that composes comets , the oceans of Earth , and even humans may have been created in a cloud like the Orion Nebula.
| Date | April 21, 1998 |
|---|---|
| Credit |
Credit: Anglo-Australian Telescope photograph by David Malin Copyright: Anglo-Australian Telescope Board |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |



