02-06-2012, 12:04 AM
Dust of the Orion Nebula
What surrounds a hotbed of star
formation? In the case of the Orion Nebula - dust. The entire Orion
field, located about 1600 light years away,
is inundated with
intricate and picturesque filaments of dust. Opaque to visible light,
dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool
stars and
expelled by a strong outer wind of particles. The Trapezium and other
forming star clusters are embedded in the nebula. The intricate
filaments
of dust surrounding M42 and M43 appear brown in the above image, while
central glowing gas is highlighted in red. Over the next few
million years much of Orion's dust will be slowly destroyed by the very stars now being formed, or dispersed into the Galaxy.
What surrounds a hotbed of star
formation? In the case of the Orion Nebula - dust. The entire Orion
field, located about 1600 light years away,
is inundated with
intricate and picturesque filaments of dust. Opaque to visible light,
dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool
stars and
expelled by a strong outer wind of particles. The Trapezium and other
forming star clusters are embedded in the nebula. The intricate
filaments
of dust surrounding M42 and M43 appear brown in the above image, while
central glowing gas is highlighted in red. Over the next few
million years much of Orion's dust will be slowly destroyed by the very stars now being formed, or dispersed into the Galaxy.