A new old view of an old friend

By Phil Plait | January 19, 2011 5:05 am

[Yes, that title is correct. Bear with me.]

Ive seen the Orion Nebula approximately well, how many times? Lets see um,
carry the two yeah, a gazillion times. You have too, probably, since to the unaided
eye it appears as a star in the dagger hanging below Orions famous belt*. Ive also
seen it with binoculars and through telescopes ranging in size from dimestore
junkers to a one-meter on a mountaintop. And yet, every new picture of it reveals
something interesting like this spectacular shot does:

Yowza. Click to ennebulanate, or get the orionormous 4000 x 3800 version. Or you
can treat yourself to the 142 Mb 9000 x 8600 pixel version!
First, some stats: this picture is a combination of five separate images from the red to
the ultraviolet (that last colored violet, actually), including a filter that sees just the
glow from warm hydrogen (colored red in this image). The telescope used was a 2.2
meter in Chile. The nebula is pretty big the full Moon would just fit inside this
image so the detail on this is truly stunning.

The nebula is a vast cloud of gas, both atomic and molecular, and dust located about
1350 light years away. Its one of the largest star forming factories in the Milky Way,
and what you see here is well over 20 light years across.

For years I figured it was just a diffuse glowing thing in space, but it turns out to be
more complicated than that. In reality, a lot of the nebula is actually a dark, dense
molecular cloud literally, composed of molecules like H2(molecular hydrogen) and
CO (carbon monoxide). This cloud is actually far, far larger than what you see in this
image, perhaps 20 times the width! But its dark, so we dont see it in visible light
and what were seeing in this picture is not really a free-floating gas cloud, but a
cavity in the wall of the denser dark cloud.

Stars are being born inside that cloud. Some of them are very massive, hot, and
bright. They blast out a fierce stellar wind, like the solar wind but far more powerful.
They also emit a fierce flood of ultraviolet photons. Together, these two forces erode
away at the material of the cloud, breaking apart the molecules into their constituent
atoms, ionizing them, and causing them to glow. It so happens that some of these
stars were born near the side of this cloud, so when they ate away the insides of the
cloud it caused a blister in the side which burst open.

You can actually see that in this image! The bulk of the colorful nebula, from the
upper left on down, is actually gas inside this cavity set aglow. The far wall is opaque
and dark, so you dont see it here. But you can get a sense of the bubble-like nature of
the nebula.

I always get a bit of thrill when I see a picture that makes the concave nature of the
nebula apparent. Its not clear from some photographs, depending on the filters
used, but I can see it in this one. And an interesting thing; these werent new
observations! Igor Chekalin found several images of the nebula in the European
Southern Observatory archives as part of their Hidden Treasures contest, and put
them together to create this new image.

See? My title really was correct.

And oh, about that contest; amazingly, this image didnt win. What did? An image
of another nebula in Orion called M78 put together by Igor Chekalin!
Image credit: ESO and Igor Chekalin

*My roommate in grad school questioned the taxonomy of it being a "dagger", ifyouknowwhatImean winkwinknudgenudge
saynomore.

CATEGORIZED UNDER: ASTRONOMY, PRETTY PICTURES

 MORE ABOUT: ESO, IGOR CHEKALIN, M42, ORION NEBULA

Comments (35)
Links to this Post
1. Nebular, Dude! | Atheism From Below | July 15, 2011

1. Gary

What an absolutely beautiful image. Who needs a god to inspire awe when we have
the very universe we live in?
January 19, 2011 at 5:36 am

2. LittleJim

That is dark matter, isnt it? Its just that space, you see, is black. And the thing about
soot and carbon and dust and stuff is that its black. So unless you have a light source
of some sort around, you cant see it!

Is that about it?

January 19, 2011 at 5:38 am

3. LittleJim

The thing about the Orion Nebula actually being 20 times the width of what we can
actually see, is what I meant, sorry. Probably should have pointed that out.
January 19, 2011 at 5:39 am

4. Nadim
 The photo looks pretty spectacular! Its amazing just how much detail one can get the

further they look into the Orion Nebula.

Another note, what is it with the strange rings around the red stars?
January 19, 2011 at 6:03 am

5. AndyD

I see Mary holding baby Jesus!

January 19, 2011 at 6:18 am

6. CameronSS

Dangit, these astronomers need to learn to produce images that arent so square. I
cant make a desktop background without cutting off purty bits, because its all purty
bits.
January 19, 2011 at 7:16 am

7. Messier Tidy Upper

Splendid image. Magnificent.

Thanks Igor Chekalin & the BA.

One minor question : 1350 light years away is that new, revised distance estimate
for it?

Id previously thought Messier 42 (the Orion Nebula) was about *1,500* light years
away although figures have been known to change depending on time and source. Or
maybe Im just confusing M42 with Orions belt stars (going from Taurus to Canis
Majoris facing sides here)Mintaka (Delta Orionis), Alnilam (Epsilon Ori.) & Alnitak
(Zeta Ori.) instead?
January 19, 2011 at 7:25 am
8. BillZBub

@AndyD: I see it too! However, I think it is baby Space Jesus because those eyes are
a little too big to be fully human.
January 19, 2011 at 7:56 am

9. Phil Plait

CameronSS (#6): The first link, right above the picture, has wallpaper versions on it.
January 19, 2011 at 8:08 am

10. Phil Plait

Nadim (#4): I almost wrote about those rings around stars, but couldnt find a good

place to put it. They are internal reflections inside the telescope or
detector. The light from a bright star bounces around and makes those rings. We saw
them a lot in our Hubble images. Lines drawn from the stars through the reflections
usually converge on one spot in the image, which is due to the way the optics align in
the image, and thats one way to know youre dealing with a ghost image.
January 19, 2011 at 8:10 am

11. Messier Tidy Upper

Incidentally, on a tenuously related note (it *is* in Orion after all & figure some
readers may be interested) did folks know about this very faint (6th mag.) but still
unaided eye visible (in a very dark sky) star :

http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/hr1988.html
 HR 1988 a G4 IV yellow subgiant in Orion between Betelgeux and Alnitak that boasts
not one but two confirmed exoplanets? Although it seems one of them might well be

a brown dwarf instead?

January 19, 2011 at 8:25 am

12. Steviegene

There are some who say that the throne of God is hidden behind this curtain of dark
matter. The awe inspired by the universe is magnified for me by believing there is a
Creator behind it all. I appreciate the wide perspectives of both Mr. Plait and all who
comment here because it helps me balance my own belief and doubt while getting a
sense of yours. Thanks for the pictures, thanks for the viewpoints.
January 19, 2011 at 8:35 am

13. Calli Arcale

Okay, new desktop background. Totally.

January 19, 2011 at 8:37 am

14. Paul Clapham

Not a dagger but a nudgenudgewinkwink? Now consider how Orion appears in the
southern hemisphere
January 19, 2011 at 9:05 am

15. Larian LeQuella

 I was looking at this nebula with my new telscope the other day. Trying
out different filters and such. The only complaint I have is that I didnt get automatic
drives for my telescope, so I have to keep manually adjusting (especially when I have
the higher magnification eyepeices in and have a narrow fied of view). I wonder if I
can get that gawd character to stop the earth from spinning? Probably not since I am
not intent on genocide
January 19, 2011 at 9:11 am

16. Jill Montgomery

Please, this is not an either-or problem (i.e. Creator or no Creator). Since we know
absolutely nothing it would be like my dogs debating who or what or how or why
their dinner bowls are full of food every night, or how when they get in the car and
then get out they are somewhere new.

I think awe is the appropriate all inclusive response and a humility that makes our
tiny tiny tiny minded opinions laughable.
January 19, 2011 at 9:16 am

17. Gary Ansorge

They blast out a fierce stellar wind, like the solar wind but far more powerful. They
also emit a fierce flood of ultraviolet photons.

This does not sound particularly conducive to life(as we know it). The universe seems
barely TOLERANT of life, rather than inclined toward producing such.

The following link is about the positive value of the cosmological constant, which if a
god wanted to fine tune for the maximum amount of life, should be slightly
negative.

I guess God actually said Let there be,,,Oops,,,dang!

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/26276/?nlid=4019

Gary 7
January 19, 2011 at 9:21 am
18. Larian LeQuella

@ Jill (#16), I would contend that we know a great deal about specific claims made
regarding specific creators. We are quite certian that the world wasnt made in 6
days, or that the planet is the corpse of some titan, or floating on the back of a turtle.
Its like the dog proclaiming that the food bowl is filled by a thunderclap that
magically materializes the food. Other dogs can see their owners pour their kibbles
in, thus falsifying the thunderclap story.

Now, if you go to the realm of a Deist approach, then I would agree with

you. And I am saying that as a strong atheist. <3

January 19, 2011 at 9:37 am

19. TechyDad

One of these days, Im going to print out a few of these super-large space photos and
paper my ceilings with them. A 9000 x 8600 pixel image could make a 65.33 inch by
57.33 inch poster at 150dpi. Drop the dpi to 100 and you could increase the poster
size to 9886. One of these might fit my office ceiling nicely. Then I could be working
under the stars. (Or nebula as the case may be.)
January 19, 2011 at 9:43 am

20. Chris A.

@LittleJim (#2 & #3):

That is dark matter, isnt it?

No. Because we can detect this stuff in other wavelengths. The areas of Orion that
appear dark in visible wavelengths are positively aglow in the infrared.

Dark matter, whatever it is, only reveals itself through its gravitational effectswe
havent been able to measure its interaction with electromagnetic energy, if any, so
far.
January 19, 2011 at 9:43 am
21. DigitalAxis

Bah, what happened to the 16:10 and 16:9 wallpapers? This is 2011, we need
25601600 at the least.

I actually would have to agree with the judges; M78 is not quite as iconic as M42, but
the three-dimensionality of that picture is gorgeous.
January 19, 2011 at 10:39 am

22. The Beer

Its funny to think that if our solar system were in there, it would probably include a
few of our local stars as well.

Can you imagine if we were at least close to something like that? I wonder how our
perspective on astronomy would have dveloped!
January 19, 2011 at 10:48 am

23. Eugene

Has anyone actually tried making a computer model of the basic shape of a nebula
like this one? I bet it would look pretty cool. Plus, even though you can see the cavity
pretty clearly, its hard to wrap my head around the idea that theres an outer shell I
cant see.
January 19, 2011 at 11:52 am

24. mike burkhart

This is one of my favorte sight in the winter sky this and the Pledies.
January 19, 2011 at 12:18 pm
25. Michel

Since so many stars are born in M42 are we seeing the start of a cluster?
January 19, 2011 at 12:19 pm

26. CameronSS

Phil: Thanks, I should actually try clicking links sometime. Still requires cropping,
though, because I need widescreen and widerscreen. I guess Ill just have to suck it
up and chop something off.
January 19, 2011 at 12:36 pm

27. QuietDesperation

Has anyone ever rendered an image of what it would look like inside one of these
nebulae? I know we get fooled by the long exposures of pictures like this, and the
nebula would be very diffuse up close, but it would still be interesting to see a
scientifically accurate rendering instead of the blinding, glowy technicolor clouds we
see in the moovies.
January 19, 2011 at 1:31 pm

28. Ross

This is one instance where some 3d visualization would go a long way to helping us
non-astronomers comprehend the shapes and features Phil describes.
January 19, 2011 at 2:47 pm

29. Crudely Wrott

@18, Larian, thanks for reminding me that creation stories, like tribes and nomads
and fledgling societies and even fairly sophisticated societies that accept them, are
 pretty much a dime a dozen. From a historical perspective, of course.
While horrific acts that occurred in the past are disturbing and mostly recalled
through a veil of retelling and allegory, when they happen now, nearby, they can
incite such as we see ourselves presently saddled with. As a result of giving tacit
approval to at least one creation story (if more than one then one is considered
correct and any others are granted lip service), privilege is extended in an obviously
biased way to an unremarkable few in an unconstitutional way.
Not only that, the mere scent of such assumptions should put everyone on guard; it is
a familiar spoor.
Keep on truckin!

@22, The Beer, truth is, the Orion Nebula is practically rubbing elbows with us. Look
at the Hubble Deep Field pictures and remind yourself that each of the myriad
galaxies you see contain a similar myriad of nebulae . . . thats the wide view.
To resolve the solar system your field of view is necessarily restricted to a very small
portion of what can be seen. I picture it as the difference between looking at the
setting sun and feeling part of a larger scheme and then looking down at a spider
trying to hide under your foot and feeling like part of a smaller scheme.
Which just makes it deeper.

Thanks, Phil. You really deliver.

January 19, 2011 at 8:13 pm

30. Cosmonut

Why do these posts always seem to provoke bickering about God?

Our Universe is magnificent and awe-inspiring.

If your appreciation of it is heightened by believing in a Deistic Something-Beyond-
It-All, great !
If just contemplating the Universe is good enough for you, thats great too.

Why fight?
January 19, 2011 at 8:22 pm

31. Astro Ash!!

Im not atheist, but I think Phil Plait is one of the most magnificant astronomer that
ever lived!!! I think you are spectacular just like the picture above! I believe in God,
but I know just because someone is atheist does not mean they are a bad person and
I just to say thanks for being a good roimodel for me and my great story i am writing.
Never give up-Ashlynn
January 19, 2011 at 8:47 pm
32. Charles

For Ross, or anyone else wanting a 3D visualization: I recommend seeing the recent
Imax 3D Space Shuttle movie. It includes a trip to (and into, and through) the Orion
Nebula that was constructed in 3D from various Hubble photographs (and some
conjecture obviously), and its simply stunning.