This is a recent exposure taken of The Orion Nebula. The Orion
Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse
nebula situated south[b] of Orion's Belt. It is one of the
brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night
sky. M42 is located at a distance of 1,344 ± 20 light years and
is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The
M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light years across. It has a
mass of about 2000 times the mass of the Sun. Older texts
frequently referred to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in
Orion or the Great Orion Nebula. The Orion Nebula is one of the
most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, and
is among the most intensely studied celestial features. The
nebula has revealed much about the process of how stars and
planetary systems are formed from collapsing clouds of gas and
dust. Astronomers have directly observed protoplanetary disks,
brown dwarfs, intense and turbulent motions of the gas, and the
photo-ionizing effects of