esahubble_opo9545m November 20th, 1995
Credit: NASA, C.R. O'Dell and S.K. Wong (Rice University)
This mosaic shows the center of the Orion Nebula. Many of the nebula's details can't be captured in a single picture - any more than one snapshot of the Grand Canyon yields clues to its formation and history. Like the Grand Canyon, the Orion nebula has a dramatic surface topography of glowing gasses instead of rock with peaks, valleys and walls. They are illuminated and heated by a torrent of energetic ultraviolet light from its four hottest and most massive stars, called the Trapezium, which lie near the center of the image.
Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA
Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9545m/
Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany
Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Detailed color mapping information coming soon...
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