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    The spectacular constellation ORION adorns the mid-winter night sky. In January, ORION culminates at 9 PM which is best time to observe.

ORION contains the most beautiful emission nebula in the heavens.

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Just below the famous “Belt” of three second magnitude stars, the nebula is situated in the “sword” of Orion, a line of fainter stars where the nebula in the center of those stars.

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    The great nebula can be detected by naked eyes, but binoculars will easily show the glow.

“Great” nebula contains ionized hydrogen cloud that has enough mass to form ten thousand stars.

This stellar nursery shows the young hot stars, easily seen in the center of the nebula. The formation has been termed the “Trapezium”

Four bright blue stars can be seen with a small telescope. A few fainter stars can be detected at larger telescope apertures of 8 inches or more.

The Trapezium is always overexposed in the photographs, but are startling in the visible images.

 

    Charles Messier cataloged this object as M-42. A smaller patch of nebulosity has  labeled M-43. By using my four inch apochromatic refractor at 50 magnification, the nebula shows an intricate lime green swirl of nebulosity. If I look longer I can detect the outer regions of the gas. M-42 can show its beauty even in polluted nights, but in dark skies the nebula is awesome!

 

Specifications:

Name: M-42, 43  NGC 1976 ORION NEBULA

Type: Emission Nebula

Distance: 1300 Light Years

Diameter: 150 Light Years

 

   My images shown here range from a wide view of the constellation, small 2.5 inch telescope and a 4 inch telescope.

   The green image (sketch) is the closest view to see in a telescope. The pink and purple colors are true but cannot detected by visual images.

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Enjoy the view!

 

--Hal