Dust, Gas, and Stars in the Orion Nebula

Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion , an immense, nearby starbirth region , is probably the most famous of all astronomical nebulas . Here, filaments of dark dust and glowing gas surround hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular cloud only 1500 light-years away. In the featured deep image shown in assigned colors, part of the nebula's center is shown as taken by the Hubble Space Telescope . The Great Nebula in Orion can be found with the unaided eye near the easily identifiable belt of three stars in the popular constellation Orion . In addition to housing a bright open cluster of stars known as the Trapezium , the Orion Nebula contains many stellar nurseries . These nurseries contain much hydrogen gas, hot young stars, proplyds , and stellar jets spewing material at high speeds. Also known as M42 and M43 , the Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is located in the same spiral arm of our Galaxy as the Sun .