The Orion nebula glows in vivid clouds of blue and yellow in this beautiful image recently sent to Space.com.
Astrophotographer Robert Fields captured this photo of Messier 42, or the Orion nebula, from the Irvington Observatory of Howell Twp, Miss. on March 18. He used a FSQ 106 telescope and SBIG STL 11k Astrodon Narrowband at 3nm wavelength "to really give the detail in the nebulosity," Fields wrote Space.com in an email. [See more amazing Orion nebula photos by stargazers]
Fields' image is a compilation of narrowband data in SII, HA and OIII. It is the result of more than 14 hours of data and synthesized using Photoshop.
The Orion nebula is located roughly 1,500 light-years from Earth and stretches 40 light-years across. It can be seen with the unaided eye near the belt of the three stars in the constellation Orion. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). The nebula's colors seen in the region of star formation are created by oxygen and hydrogen gas emission.To see more amazing night sky photos submitted by Space.com readers, visit our astrophotography archive.
Editor's note: If you have an amazing night sky photo you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, please contact managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.
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