🔭 M42 — Great Orion Nebula

Diffuse nebula in Orion

M42, Great Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion, with an apparent magnitude of about 4, roughly 1.344 thousand light-years away.

Data

Catalogue designation	M42
Common name	Great Orion Nebula
Object type	Diffuse nebula
Constellation	Orion
NGC / IC	NGC 1976
Apparent magnitude	4
Distance (approx.)	1.344 thousand light-years

What a diffuse nebula is

An interstellar cloud of gas and dust — glowing where hot young stars energise it (emission), reflecting nearby starlight, or silhouetted against brighter clouds.

Other Messier objects in Orion: M43, M78.

Data: Messier catalogue & IAU constellations, via English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0) · stored statically.