Aster › Space program › Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
Position on the route: 123/130 · level needed 2300 · journey (Mk0 engine) 430.1 h
By the numbers
| Distance | ≈ 1,344 light-years |
|---|---|
| Width | ≈ 24 light-years |
| Stars | the Trapezium cluster |
| Type | A stellar nursery |
The story
The Orion Nebula (M42) is the nearest big stellar nursery to Earth, visible to the naked eye in Orion’s ‘sword’. About 24 light-years across, with four young hot stars (the Trapezium) at its heart lighting the whole cloud of gas.
Hubble has imaged hundreds of ‘proplyds’ inside the nebula: discs of dust around newborn stars where planets are forming. The Solar System may have been born in a region like this 4.6 billion years ago.
Missions
- Hubble and JWST: the proplyd discs
- Orion Nebula Cluster surveys
Colony note
No surface to land on; an observation station at the edge of the nebula.
☠ A stellar nursery: no surface to land on. An observation station at the edge of the nebula.
What probes bring back
- ≈ 1,344 light-years: a stellar nursery, visible to the naked eye in Orion’s sword. Hubble saw hundreds of ‘proplyd’ planet-forming discs around young stars inside the nebula.
- About 24 light-years across; the Trapezium cluster lights the gas.