Messier 43
From NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the
Day
Often imaged but rarely
mentioned, Messier 43 is
a large star forming region in its own right.
It's just part of the
star forming complex of gas and dust that includes the larger, more famous
neighboring Messier 42, the Great Orion Nebula. In fact, the Great Orion
Nebula itself lies off the lower edge of this scene.
The close-up of Messier
43 was made while testing the capabilities of a near-infrared instrument with
one of the twin 6.5
meter Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean
Andes.
The composite image
shifts the otherwise invisible infrared wavelengths to blue, green, and red
colors.
Peering into caverns of
interstellar dust hidden from visible light, the near-infrared view can also be
used to study cool, brown
dwarf stars in the complex region.
Along with its celebrity
neighbor, Messier 43 lies about 1,500 light-years away, at the edge of
Orion's giant molecular cloud. At that distance, this field of view spans about
5 light-years.
Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Obs.), Igor Chilingarian (Harvard-Smithsonian CfA)