FULL SIZE:http://www.eso.org/gallery/d/77059-2/TrapeziumDK15B.tif (5.15MB)
The Orion Nebula is arguably the finest of all nebulae within the Milky Way visible from the Northern Hemisphere. With a gaseous repository of 10 000 suns, and illuminated by a cluster of hot young stars, the clouds of Messier 42 – as it is also known – glow with fantastic colours and shapes, giving us a bird’s eye view of one of the greatest star forming nurseries in our part of the Milky Way. Messier 42 is a complex of glowing gas, mostly hydrogen but also helium, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in decreasing amounts, located 1500 light years away. At its very heart, we find the Trapezium, a group of four very hot stars that illuminate the nebula. They are the brightest of an extended cluster of several thousand young stars many of which lie unseen within the opaque gas and dust. Amazingly, whilst the Orion Nebula is easy to identify with the unaided eye, there is apparently no written record of its existence before the 17th century. (From ESO)
自翻：猎户座大星云无疑是在北半球所能看到的银河中最美丽的星云。其中有10000个与太阳相当的恒星，并被一个年轻的星团照亮着。M42，拥有着梦幻般的色彩和形状，并让我们能够鸟瞰银河系中一颗最大的恒星在苗圃中成长的过程。M42是一团复杂的灼热的气体，主要是氢，而且氦，碳，氮和氧占少数部分，位于1500光年之外。在它的核心，我们可以发现一个由4颗照亮这个星云的炙热的恒星组成的一个梯形。他们是几千颗位于不透明的气体和尘埃中的不可见恒星中最显眼的。令人惊讶的是，虽然猎户座大星云是肉眼很容易看到的星云，但在17世纪前没有任何关于它存在的书面记载。 |
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