⭑⚝ The Orion Nebula ⚝⭑ The Orion Nebula, also known as Messier 42 (M42), is a massive, diffuse nebula located roughly 1,344 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae in the night sky and is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch just below Orion's Belt. As a vast stellar nursery, this interstellar cloud of gas and dust is an active region of star formation, housing thousands of young stars and proto-planetary disks. At its core lies the Trapezium, a tight cluster of four exceptionally bright, massive stars whose intense ultraviolet radiation illuminates the surrounding nebula, causing the hydrogen gas to glow with brilliant hues of red, pink, and violet.
