Animation of HST Images Constructing Mosaic of the Orion Nebula

Crucible of Creation: Panoramic Image of Center of the Orion Nebula

This spectacular color panorama of the center the Orion nebula is one of the largest pictures ever assembled from individual images taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The picture, seamlessly composited from a mosaic of 15 separate fields, covers an area of sky about five...

Planetary Systems in the Making: Dust and Gas Disks Around Young Stars in Orion Nebula

These are Hubble Space Telescope images of four newly discovered protoplanetary disks around young stars in the Orion nebula, located 1,500 light-years away. Gas and dust disks, long suspected by astronomers to be an early stage of planetary formation, can be directly seen in...

Edge-on Protoplanetary Disk in the Orion Nebula

Resembling an interstellar Frisbee, this is a disk of dust seen edge-on around a newborn star in the Orion nebula, located 1,500 light-years away. Because the disk is edge-on, the star is largely hidden inside, in this striking Hubble Space Telescope picture. The disk may be an...

Proplyd in the Orion Nebula

Proplyd in the Orion Nebula

Proplyd in Orion Nebula

Proplyd in the Orion Nebula

Proplyd in Orion Nebula

A three-color composite image of a proplyd in the Orion Nebula, taken in blue, green, and red emission lines from glowing gas in the nebula.

Proplyd in Orion Nebula

This image was taken through a different filter, which blocks any bright spectral emission lines from the nebula, and hence the disk itself is less distinctly silhouetted against the background. However, clearly visible in this image are nebulosities above and below the plane of...