THE ORION NEBULA--

as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope

The International Space Station has provided some delightful evening viewings recently and that has driven me to my on-line, astronomy references where I found this image.

A nebula is defined as a cloud of gas in space.  The Orion nebula is regarded as a turbulent stellar nursery where more than 3,000 stars are being born.

Unfortunately for us, the Orion constellation is far below our western horizon by the time it is dark enough for us to see stars this time of year.  So, to see this nebula by the naked eye or binoculars it is best viewed in the early evening darkness of our later winter months.

Orion (The Hunter) pretty much dominates the view in our southern skies then and is easily identified by three identical bright stars equally spaced apart forming his sloping belt.  This nebula is in the "sword region" hanging below his belt.

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Hubble Gallery/Amazing-Space/NASA