Orion Nebula (M42)
A stellar nursery in Orion's sword
One of the brightest nebulae in the sky, M42 is a vast cloud of gas and dust where new stars are being born right now, only 1,344 light-years away.
Image: NASA / ESA / Hubble
Vital statistics
Type
Diffuse / Emission Nebula
Distance
1,344 light-years
Diameter
~24 light-years
Stars forming
~700
Did you know
Visible to the naked eye in Orion's sword.
Fact 01
Contains the Trapezium Cluster of young hot stars.
Fact 02
One of the most photographed objects in the sky.
Fact 03
Research & publications
Jump straight into peer-reviewed papers, preprints and authoritative references for Orion Nebula (M42).
arXiv (preprints)
Open-access preprints in physics & astrophysics.
NASA ADS
The definitive bibliographic database for astronomy.
Google Scholar
Cross-publisher academic search.
Nature
Peer-reviewed articles in Nature & sister journals.
Wikipedia
Encyclopedic overview & onward references.
Tip: ask the Research AI for a curated reading list → /research
