                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2025 April 20
     A complex nebula fills the frame that is brightly colored, with red
      being prominent in the image center and blue being most prominent
     elsewhere. Stars also dot the image. Please see the explanation for
                         more detailed information.

                  The Orion Nebula in Visible and Infrared
     Image Credit & Copyright: Infrared: NASA, Spitzer Space Telescope;
                Visible: Oliver Czernetz, Siding Spring Obs.

   Explanation: The Great Nebula in Orion is a colorful place. Visible to
   the unaided eye, it appears as a small fuzzy patch in the constellation
   of Orion. Long exposure, multi-wavelength images like this, however,
   show the Orion Nebula to be a busy neighborhood of young stars, hot
   gas, and dark dust. This digital composite features not only three
   colors of visible light but four colors of infrared light taken by
   NASA's orbiting Spitzer Space Telescope as well. The power behind much
   of the Orion Nebula (M42) is the Trapezium - four of the brightest
   stars in the nebula. Many of the filamentary structures visible are
   actually shock waves - fronts where fast moving material encounters
   slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years and is
   located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm of our
   Galaxy as the Sun.

                 Tomorrow's picture: galaxy-sized telescope
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

