Images: Traveling inside Orion's sword

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  • Orion

    Orion

    NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest views yet of the Orion Nebula, the nearest star formation region to the Earth.

    Orion the Hunter is one of the most easily recognized constellations. It includes stars many people recognize: red giant Betelgeuse (upper left) and blue giant Rigel (lower right). The three stars in the middle make up the belt. Just below is the sword, the Orion Nebula, which can be seen by the naked eye in very clear dark skies.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Orion stars

    Orion stars

    This image, one of the sharpest ever taken by the Hubble telescope, contains about 3,000 stars--many have never been seen in visible light.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • Trapezium

    Trapezium

    The bright lights of the Trapezium Stars illuminate this area of the Orion Nebula. Ultraviolet light from these stars is creating a cavity in the nebula and disrupting the growth of hundreds of stars. A whitish-looking disk, between and just above the two bright stars on the left, is a bubble of gas and dust.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • arcs amd bubbles

    arcs amd bubbles

    Arcs and bubbles are formed in this region by the solar winds ejected by the Trapezium stars, which collide with material.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

  • nebula art

    nebula art

    This star-forming region of the Orion Nebula, rich in galactic colors, is full of scientific wonders and would make an artist proud.

    Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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NASA's Hubble Space telescope has taken its sharpest and most spectacular images of the Orion Nebula.

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Orion

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken the sharpest views yet of the Orion Nebula, the nearest star formation region to the Earth.

Orion the Hunter is one of the most easily recognized constellations. It includes stars many people recognize: red giant Betelgeuse (upper left) and blue giant Rigel (lower right). The three stars in the middle make up the belt. Just below is the sword, the Orion Nebula, which can be seen by the naked eye in very clear dark skies.

Caption by: Bill Detwiler

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