Basic Information

What is this?

The constellation of Orion as seen by Planck

Where is it in the sky?

In the constellation of Orion the Hunter

How big is it?

The image is about 10 degrees across

How far away is it?

Much of the material is thousands of light years away

What do the colours represent?

Red colours show electrons and gas, while the green and blue colours show dust

The Orion Nebula as seen by Planck at microwave wavelengths.  The red colour shows longer wavelength light which is emitted by electrons spiralling round magnetic fields in the Galaxy, while the green and blue material is emitted by dust laced between the stars.  The gas and dust are what stars are made of, and measuring their distribution is crucial to working out how stars form, and what effect the properties of the gas and dust can have on the resulting stars.  The loop of red material is Barnard's Loop, which is a ring of material around 300 light years across and about 1600 lightyears away.  The ring was formed by a supernova which exploded millions of years ago.

The same region of sky in visible wavelength.  Hover the cursor over to see the Planck image overlaid.
The same region of sky at visible wavelengths. Hover the mouse over to see the Planck image overlaid. Image credit: DSS (visible); ESA / HFI / LFI (microwave)

The same patch of sky is shown on the right at visible wavelengths, with the Planck image overlaid if you hover your mouse over it.  The three stars on the right of the visible light image are the "belt" of Orion, while the bright feature just below the centre is the Orion Nebula, associated with the stars in the "sword" of Orion.


You can also see a similar image of a region of sky in the constellation of Perseus here.


Detailed Information

Object Name: 
Type of Object: 
Image Scale: 
10 degrees across
Right Ascension: 05h 46m ; Declination: -3° 31′
Orion the Hunter
Observation Date/Time: 
Fri, 17/09/2010 - 12:02
Distance of Object: 
Most of the material is thousands of light years away
Date of Release: