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Gas Plume From a Newborn Star in the Orion Nebula

Gas Plume From a Newborn Star in the Orion Nebula
A NASA Hubble Space Telescope picture of a hypersonic shock wave (lower right) of material moving at 148,000 miles per hour in the Orion Nebula, a star-forming region 1,500 light-years away. Studies of similar objects infer that such highly supersonic shock waves are formed by a beam of material coming out of newly formed stars. The plume is only 1,500 years old. The image is 112 light-year across. This color photograph is a composite of separate images taken at the wavelengths of the two abundant elements in the nebula: Hydrogen and Oxygen. The images were taken with HST's Wide Field and Planetary Camera (in wide field mode), on August 13 and 14, 1991.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    05h 35m 17.29s
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -5° 23' 27.99"
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Orion Nebula
  • Release Date
    December 16, 1992
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope Discovers Protoplanetary Disks Around Newly Formed Stars
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Credit: C.R. O'Dell (Rice University), and NASA

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Gas Plume Near the Edge of the Orion Nebula

A NASA Hubble Space Telescope "true color" mosaic image of a small portion of the Orion Nebula, taken the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (in wide field mode). Hubble shows a wealth of detail never seen before in the nebula. New features include: elongated objects oriented on...

Close-up of Three Protoplanetary Disks in the Orion Nebula

Close-up of Three Protoplanetary Disks in the Orion Nebula

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Orion Nebula

Orion Nebula

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Last Updated
Mar 14, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

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