Orion Nebula (M42)
Nebula · Star nursery
The Orion Nebula is a giant glowing cloud of gas and dust where thousands of new stars are being born. It is the closest large star-forming region to Earth and you can see it without a telescope.
- 1,344 light-years awayEven light – the fastest thing there is – needs 1,344 years to get here.
- ~24 light-yearsSize
- The Trapezium starsContains
Take a closer look
The Trapezium’s glow
At the nebula’s heart, a small telescope shows four bright stars in a tight little shape called the Trapezium. These young stars are fiercely hot. Their ultraviolet light makes the surrounding gas glow and has carved out a hollow in the cloud, like a cave lit from inside.
Tip of the cloud
The glowing part is only a bright blister on the near side of a far bigger, cold, dark cloud. Hidden behind it, more stars are forming in thick dust. Infrared telescopes like Webb can see through that dust to find them.
Our Sun’s baby pictures
Our Sun was probably born in a crowded star nursery much like this one, about 4.6 billion years ago. Studying the Orion Nebula helps scientists picture how our own Solar System began. Its pink colour comes from glowing hydrogen – the same gas that fuels the Sun today.
How we found out
- 1610
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc makes the first recorded telescope observation of the nebula.
- 1769
Charles Messier adds it to his catalogue as M42.
- 1880
Henry Draper takes the first-ever photograph of a nebula – this one.
- 1990s
Hubble discovers dusty discs around young stars – baby solar systems in the making.
How does a cloud of gas become a star?
Gravity slowly pulls clumps of gas together. As a clump shrinks, it heats up until its centre is hot enough for nuclear fusion – and a star switches on.
See it yourself
Look at the “sword” hanging below Orion’s belt. The middle “star” looks fuzzy – that’s the nebula. Binoculars make it glow.
From the encyclopedia
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