| NASA Center: |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
PR95-45A |
|---|
| Date : |
11/20/1995
|
|---|
|
Title
The Orion Nebula
Full Description
This spectacular color panorama of the center the Orion nebula is one
of the largest pictures ever assembled from individual images taken
with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
The picture, seamlessly composited from a mosaic of 15 separate fields,
covers an area of sky about five percent the area covered by the full
Moon. The seemingly infinite tapestry of rich detail revealed by Hubble
shows a churning turbulent star factory set within a maelstrom of
flowing, luminescent gas. Though this 2.5 light-years wide view is
still a small portion of the entire nebula, it includes almost all of
the light from the bright glowing clouds of gas and a star cluster
associated with the nebula.
The mosaic reveals at least 153 glowing protoplanetary disks (first
discovered with the Hubble in 1992, and dubbed "proplyds") that are
believed to be embryonic solar systems that will eventually form
planets. (Our solar system has long been considered the relic of just
such a disk that formed around the newborn Sun). The proplyds that are
closest to the Trapezium stars (image center) are shedding some of
their gas and dust. The pressure of starlight from the hottest stars
forms "tails" which act like wind vanes pointing away from the
Trapezium. These tails result from the light from the star pushing the
dust and gas away from the outside layers of the proplyds.
In addition to the luminescent proplyds, seven disks are silhouetted
against the bright background of the nebula. Located 1,500 light-years
away, along our spiral arm of the Milky Way, the Orion nebula is
located in the middle of the sword region of the constellation Orion
the Hunter, which dominates the early winter evening sky at northern
latitudes.
Keywords
Hubble Space Telescope HST Orion Nebula Trapezium
Subject Category
Deep Space Studies, Hubble,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HSTI
- Center Number:
PR95-45A
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000983
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA, C.R. O
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
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82 |
88 |
13 |
Small |
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582 |
627 |
226 |
Medium |
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1365 |
1470 |
999 |
Large |
.jpg |
2730 |
2940 |
3,415 |
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