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Астронет: Астрономическая картинка дня Орион и Бегущий человек http://www.astronet.ru/db/msg/1983870/eng |
Credit & Copyright: R. Jay Gabany
Explanation:
Few cosmic vistas can excite the imagination like
The Great Nebula in
Orion.
Visible as a faint, bland celestial smudge
to the naked-eye,
the nearest large star-forming region sprawls across this
sharp colorful
telescopic image.
Designated
M42
in the Messier Catalog, the Orion Nebula's glowing gas and dust surrounds
hot,
young stars.
About 40 light-years across, M42 is at the edge of an immense
interstellar
molecular cloud
only 1,500 light-years away that lies
within the same spiral arm of our Milky Way galaxy as the Sun.
Including dusty bluish reflection nebula
NGC 1977, also known as
the Running Man nebula at left in the frame,
the natal nebulae represent only a small fraction of our
galactic neighborhood's
wealth of star-forming material.
Within the well-studied stellar nursery,
astronomers have also identified what appear to be numerous
infant
solar systems.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.