Flight Through the Orion Nebula in Visible Light

This visualization explores the Orion Nebula as seen in visible-light observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. This movie is designed to be compared and contrasted against the companion movie using infrared-light observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope.

As the camera flies into the star-forming region, it reveals a glowing gaseous landscape that has been illuminated and carved by the high-energy radiation and strong stellar winds from the massive hot stars in the central cluster. The high-resolution visible observations show fine details including the wispy bow shocks and tadpole-shaped proplyds.

Visualization: F. Summers, G. Bacon, Z. Levay, L. Frattare, M. Robberto and L. Hustak (STScI)

Acknowledgement: R. Gendler

Music: “Dvorak – Serenade for Strings in E Major”, Advent Chamber Orchestra, CC BY-SA