Orion A
This image shows a roughly one-half-degree-square region of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, known as Orion A. It is a giant region of gas and dust where stars are forming some 1,500 light-years (460 parsecs) away. The reflection nebula NGC 1999 is in the lower-left corner. Also visible are numerous small knots, known as Herbig-Haro objects, that are jets of gas from the recently formed stars.
| Observatory: | Kitt Peak National Observatory Kitt Peak, Arizona |
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| Telescope: | KPNO 4-Meter |
| Instrument: | Mosaic I |
| Astronomer: | Z. Levay (STScI/AURA/NASA), T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage) and H. Schweiker (NOAO/AURA/NSF) |
| Date of Observation: | 12-15-2006 |
| Filters and Assigned Colors: | Oxygen [OIII] (blue), Hydrogen-Alpha (green) and Sulphur [SII] (red) |
| Exposure Times: | 5x6min in each filter |
| Location of Image: | Orion |
| Field of View: | 34.8 x 35.9 arcmin |
| Orientation: | North is up, East is to the left |
| Link to Larger Image | |
| Link to Full Resolution Image | |
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