Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Infrared Light

This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope. This movie is designed to be compared and contrasted against the companion movie using 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 infrared observations generally show cool temperature gas at a deep layer that shows the full bowl shape of the nebula. In addition, the infrared showcases many faint stars that shine primarily at longer wavelengths.