Image credit: NASA,ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team + Read More

The ACS mosaic covers approximately the apparent angular size of the full moon.

The Orion Nebula is a picture book of star formation, from the massive, young stars that are shaping the nebula to the pillars of dense gas that may be the homes of …

Believed to be the cosmic fire of creation by the Maya of Mesoamerica, M42 blazes brightly in the constellation Orion. The Orion Nebula is 1,500 light-years away, the nearest star-forming region to Earth.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captured an unprecedented look at the Orion Nebula, a turbulent stellar nursery that is one of astronomy's most photogenic celestial regions. The Orion Nebula is a picture book of star formation, from the massive, young stars that are shaping the nebula to the pillars of dense gas that may be the homes of budding stars. They also added ground-based photos to fill out the nebula.

Newborn stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon. Popularly called the Orion Nebula, this stellar nursery has been known to many different cultures throughout human history. Astronomers used 520 Hubble images, taken in five colours, to make this picture.