Orion's Sword, the region of sky below Orion's Belt includes the Orion Nebula(M42), Running Man Nebula(NGC 1977), the open cluster NGC 1981, and Iota Orionis.
The Orion Nebula is the closest stellar nursery to our solar system. Stellar nurseries are clouds of molecular gas that produce thousands of new stars and then gradually dissipate. The Orion Nebula is 1,500 light years fromEarth and six light years or 35 trillion miles across.
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The Nebula was captured using a Canon T1i Camera at ISO 3200 on a 6 inch Schmidt Newtonian. Autoguide Meade by Pictor on a Celestron CGEM mount
HDR processing by Rob , 0306=13s, 0307=78s, 0304=-296s
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Photo ID: m42hdr20091018_Sat74_Q80.jpg
