A
Hubble Space Telescope view of a small portion of the Orion Nebula reveals
five young stars. Four of the stars are surrounded by gas and dust trapped
as the stars formed, but were left in orbit about the star. These are possibly
protoplanetary disks, or "proplyds," that might evolve on to agglomerate
planets. The proplyds which are closest to the hottest stars of the parent
star cluster are seen as bright objects, while the object farthest from
the hottest stars is seen as a dark object. The field of view is only 0.14
light-years across. |
 |
The
Orion Nebula star-birth region is 1,500 light-years away, in the direction
of the constellation Orion the Hunter. |
|