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                        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.

                               2024 January 5

                      Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
            Image Credit & Copyright: Fred Zimmer, Telescope Live

   Explanation: Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait, at the
   heart of the Orion Nebula, are four hot, massive stars known as the
   Trapezium. Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius,
   they dominate the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster.
   Ultraviolet ionizing radiation from the Trapezium stars, mostly from
   the brightest star Theta-1 Orionis C powers the complex star forming
   region's entire visible glow. About three million years old, the Orion
   Nebula Cluster was even more compact in its younger years and a
   dynamical study indicates that runaway stellar collisions at an earlier
   age may have formed a black hole with more than 100 times the mass of
   the Sun. The presence of a black hole within the cluster could explain
   the observed high velocities of the Trapezium stars. The Orion Nebula's
   distance of some 1,500 light-years would make it one of the closest
   known black holes to planet Earth.

                      Tomorrow's picture: light-weekend
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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