Images by Date
Images by Category
Solar System
Stars
Exoplanets
White Dwarfs
Supernovas
Neutron Stars
Black Holes
Milky Way Galaxy
Normal Galaxies
Quasars
Galaxy Clusters
Cosmology/Deep Field
Miscellaneous
Images by Interest
Space Scoop for Kids
4K JPG
Multiwavelength
Sky Map
Constellations
Photo Blog
Top Rated Images
Image Handouts
Desktops
Fits Files
Visual descriptions
Image Tutorials
Photo Album Tutorial
False Color
Cosmic Distance
Look-Back Time
Scale & Distance
Angular Measurement
Images & Processing
AVM/Metadata
Image Use Policy
Web Shortcuts
Chandra Blog
RSS Feed
Chronicle
Email Newsletter
News & Noteworthy
Image Use Policy
Questions & Answers
Glossary of Terms
Download Guide
Get Adobe Reader
More Information
Normal Stars & Star Clusters
X-ray Astronomy Field Guide
Normal Stars & Star Clusters
Questions and Answers
Normal Stars & Star Clusters
Chandra Images
Normal Stars & Star Clusters
Related Podcasts
Tour: Coming in Hot: NASA's Chandra Checks Habitability of Exoplanets
Download Image

More Information

More Images
Chandra X-ray Image of
Orion Nebula
(Credit:NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al. )


More Releases
Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
(22 Jul 24)
Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
(17 Dec 18)
Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
(10 May 05)
Orion Nebula
Orion Nebula
(14 Jan 00)

Related Images
NGC 3576
NGC 3576
(27 Sep 06)
Orion Nebula:
Peering into the Orion Nebula



Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/M. Robberto et al.

At a distance of about 1,500 light years, the Orion Nebula is one of the closest star formation regions to Earth. This makes Orion — a favorite for amateur astronomers and casual sky watchers — an excellent location to study how stars are born and behave during their stellar childhoods. In this composite image, the central region of Orion is seen as never before through NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope.

The bright point-like sources (blue and orange) in this image are the newly formed stars captured in X-ray light by a long series of Chandra observations. These nearly continuous observations, lasting almost 13 days, allowed astronomers to monitor the activity of Sun-like stars between 1 and 10 million years old. The fledgling stars were seen to flare in their X-ray intensity much more than our Sun does today. This suggests our Sun had many violent and energetic outbursts when it was much younger. The wispy filaments (pink and purple) are clouds of gas and dust as seen by Hubble in optical light. This gas and dust will one day condense into disks of material from which future generations of stars will be born.

Fast Facts for Orion Nebula:
Credit  X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI/M. Robberto et al.
Scale  Image is 5.5 arcmin across
Category  Normal Stars & Star Clusters
Coordinates (J2000)  RA 05h 35m 14.29s | Dec -05° 23´ 37.91"
Constellation  Orion
Observation Date  6 pointings between Jan 8 - Jan 21, 2003
Observation Time  233 hours
Obs. ID  3498, 3744, 4373, 4374, 4395, 4396,
Color Code  X-ray: (Blue, yellow, orange); Optical (red-purple)
Instrument  ACIS
Also Known As M42
Distance Estimate  1,500 light years
Release Date  October 03, 2007