Facts about the Orion Nebula and images of the famous star-forming region.
By Iain Todd
Published: Monday, 16 October 2023 at 12:38 PM
The Orion Nebula is one of the most famous deep-sky objects in astronomy and, at just 1,500 lightyears away, the closest major star-forming region to Earth.
The nebula is well-known among astronomers and astrophotographers for its distinctive shape, but you don’t necessarily need a telescope to observe it.
The Orion Nebula resides within our Milky Way galaxy and is relatively close to Earth.
In fact even from a suburban location it can be possible to see the Orion Nebula in the night sky with the naked eye.
The Orion Nebula by William Brown, Coarsegold, California, US, 4 February 2019. Equipment: Nikon D7500 DSLR camera, Explore Scientific ED80 triplet apo refractor.
The Orion Nebula is also known as M42, it being part of the famous Messier Catalogue of deep-sky objects complied by French comet hunter Charles Messier.
The nebula can be seen in the Orion constellation, forming part of the hunter’s sword just south of the belt.
You can certainly spot Orion’s Belt from residential locations within the UK, USA and across Europe: it’s one of the easiest nebulae to locate and observe.
The Great Orion Nebula by Kees Scherer, Portugal. Equipment: Esprit 100 f5.5, QHY16200 CCD @ -20C
Like the constellation, the nebula is best seen in winter skies and is particularly well-placed in January in the northern hemisphere.
To find the Orion Nebula, follow these simple steps:
Locate the Orion constellation
Find the three stars in a row that make up its belt: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.
Look just below Orion’s belt and you’ll see a fuzzy patch.
This is the Orion Nebula.
See if you can get a closer look through binoculars or a small refractor telescope.
M42 The Orion Nebula by Steve Komarek, Carlton, Nottingham, 11 and 22 November 2020. Equipment: Atik 490EX camera, Sky-Watcher Quattro-8CF Newtonian, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
What is the Orion Nebula?
The Orion Nebula is a gigantic cosmic cloud of dust and gas where numerous new stars are being formed.
Four prominent stars can be seen within the nebula, forming an asterism that’s known as the Trapezium Cluster because the stars appear arranged in a trapezoid shape.
These powerful stars are unleashing streams of ultraviolet radiation that is sculpting a cavity in the nebula, destroying the gas and dust necessary for new stars to be born.
The Trapezium Cluster as seen in an infrared image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: K.L. Luhman (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.); and G. Schneider, E. Young, G. Rieke, A. Cotera, H. Chen, M. Rieke, R. Thompson (Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Ariz.) and NASA/ESA
Hubble Space Telescope’s view
The sharpest view ever taken of the Orion Nebula, 1,500 lightyears away, reveals over 3,000 stars of differing sizes nestling within the vast cavern of rolling dust and gas. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto ( Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
The Orion Nebula has been photographed by many amateur and professional astronomers over the years, but some of the most famous images have been by the Hubble Space telescope.
In 2006 the Hubble team released the image above: the sharpest view of the nebula that had ever been captured at that time.
The Orion NebulaDanny Lee, Folkestone, Kent, 7 November 2021Equipment: ZWO ASI2600MC Pro camera, William Optics Redcat 51 refractor, Sky-Watcher EQ5 Pro mount
The Orion NebulaBen Brotherton, Herefordshire, 2 November 2021 Equipment: ZWO ASI533MC camera, Sky-Watcher 8-inch Newtonian, Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro mount
The Orion and Running Man Nebulae Ed Holt, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, 30 January 2021. Equipment: Canon 60D DSLR, Sky-Watcher Evostar 80ED apo refractor, Celestron CG-5 GT mount
The Orion and Running Man Nebulae Rupesh Sangoi, Mumbai, India, 14 November 2020. Equipment: ZWO ASI 294MC Pro camera, Sky Rover 70mm quad refractor, Celestron NexStar Evolution mount
The Orion and Running Man Nebulae David Wills, Castillejar, Spain, 14–20 January 2021 Equipment: Starlight Xpress Trius SX 694 Pro mono camera, Takahashi FSQ-85ED f5.3 quad apo refractor, iOptron CEM60 mount.
Left: 1,000mm (APS-C Sensor). Right: 500mm (APS-C Sensor). Credit: Pete Lawrence
Not all clusters exist in isolation; the Trapezium Cluster is embedded in the Orion Nebula. Credit: Gerald Rhemann.
Orion NebulaDuncan Farrar, Selby, Yorkshire, 21 January 2020Equipment: ZWO ASI 294MC colour camera, Sky-Watcher ED80 refractor
The Orion Nebula, captured from the Brecon Beacons, Credit: Martin Griffiths.
The Orion Nebula Alberto Ibañez, Castillo de Villamelefa, Barcelona, Spain, 27–30 December 2018, 2–10 January 2019 Equipment: QHYCCD 163M camera, Borg 101ED f/4 refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 with Rowan upgrade mount
The sharpest view ever taken of the Orion Nebula, 1,500 lightyears away, reveals over 3,000 stars of differing sizes nestling within the vast cavern of rolling dust and gas. Credit: NASA, ESA, M. Robberto ( Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
The Orion NebulaWilliam Brown, Coarsegold, California, US, 4 February 2019Equipment: Nikon D7500 DSLR camera, Explore Scientific ED80 triplet apo refractor.
Orion’s Gaseous NebulaSebastien Grech (UK)Location: London, UK, 15 February 2017Equipment: Canon EOS 60D DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher Explorer 150P reflector, Sky-Watcher EQ3 Pro mount.
The Orion NebulaClive Roberts, Denbighshire, 1 January 2019. Equipment: Canon EOS 1000D DSLR camera, Sky-Watcher Evostar 72ED refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount.
The Orion NebulaBen Brotherton, Buckinghamshire, 8 January 2019Equipment: Canon EOS 7D MK II DSLR camera, Canon EF 70-200 lens, 1.4 III teleconverter, Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer mount.
The Orion NebulaChristopher Garman, Skelmersdale, 17 November 2018Equipment: Nikon D750 DSLR camera, Explore Scientific ED102 triplet apo refractor, Sky-Watcher HEQ5 Pro SynScan mount.
The Orion Nebula Tom Harbin, Essex, UK. Equipment: Canon Rebel T5iThe Orion Nebula by Tom Harbin, Colchester, Essex, UK. Equipment: Canon Rebel T5i DSLR camera, Celestron NexStar 127mm Mak, SLT Alt-Az GoTo mount.
The Orion and Running Man Nebulae by David Slack, Prudhoe, Northumberland, UK. Equipment: Starlight xpress H9 mono CCD camera, Revelation 66mm ED refractor, Altair Astro 0.6 focal reducer, skywatcher HEQ5 pro mount, ZWO ASI 120mm based finder guider and Canon EOS1100D DSLR.
The Great Orion Nebula by Kees Scherer, Portugal. Equipment: Esprit 100 f5.5, QHY16200 CCD @ -20C
The Running Man and Orion Nebula by Ryan Proctor, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher Quattro 8s, Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro, Nikon d5500 astro modified, ZWO asi120 mc-s Guide cam 50mm guide scope, Backyard Nikon, PHD2
M42 Orion Nebula by Mark Griffith, Swindon, UK. Equipment: Teleskop service 12″ Richey-Chretien telescope, Skywatcher EQ8 mount, Atik 383L camera, Astronomik LRGB filters, Astro physics 0.67 reducer, Hutech IDAS light pollution filter.
M42 – The Orion Nebula in narrowband by Bernard Miller, Animas, NM, USA. Equipment: Planewave CDK-17, FLI PL16803, Paramount ME
Orion Nebula by Dennis Dmitriev, PA, USA. Equipment: Celestron 6SE, Canon t2i.
Great Orion Nebula by Andy Laing, Welford, UK. Equipment: EQ6 pro mount, Canon 550d unmodded, Williams optics Megrez 72FD Field flattener, 60mm guidescope.
The Orion Nebula by Martin Goff-Jones, Fremington, Devon, UK. Equipment: Modified Canon EOS450D, Altair ED80 apochromatic triplet, field flattener, Skywatcher EQ5 pro, PHD2 guiding, APT for camera control, processed completely with PixInsight.
Orion Nebula by Peter Louer, North Tenerife. Equipment: Canon 650D Astro Modified, Canon 100-400mm Lens, IDAS LP1 clip filter, Skywatcher Star Adventurer mount.
Orion and Running Man by Gerard Tartalo Montardit, Lleida, Spain. Equipment: Canon eos 600D modified and cooled, Skywatcher newton 150/750 pds, Skywatcher neq6 pro2, Guiding with phd2, zwo asi 290mc on celestron newton 130/650.
Great Orion Nebula by Joshua Rhoades, Elkhart, Indiana, USA. Equipment: Canon 6D, Skywatcher 130pds reflector, Baader MPCC, Celestron AVX, Orion 60mm guidescope, QHY5L-II mono guide camera.
Orion Nebula by Fernando Oliveira De Menezes, San Carlos, SP, Brazil. Equipment: Esprit 150 ED, ZWO ASI 1600 mm cooled.
Orion Nebula M42 by David Newbury, Nottinghmashire, UK. Equipment: ATIK 4120EX OSC, Celestron C11 with Hyperstar, Mesu 200 mount.
The Great Orion Nebula and Running Man Nebula by Tom Bishton, Brisbane, Australia. Equipment: Black Diamond ED120, AZEQ6 Mount, ST80 Guidescope, Synguider, 600D camera (modded)
The Great Orion nebula widefield by Mariusz Szymaszek, Crawley, UK. Equipment: ILCE7S JTW modified, Optolong L-PRO MAX Luminosity Filter, Evostar 80ED DS-Pro, field flattener, HEQ5Pro.
M42/M43 by Martin Dunbar, Dumfries and Galloway, UK. Equipment: Skywatcher ED120, reducer/flattener, NEQ6 Pro, modded Canon 1000D.
