January - Celebrate

Hubble's Sharpest View of the Orion Nebula This dramatic image offers the sharpest view ever taken of the Orion Nebula and includes more than 3,000 stars of various sizes. The Orion Nebula is a nexus of star formation, from the massive, young stars shaping the Nebula to the pillars  of dense gas that may be the homes of budding stars. The bright central region contains four of the heftiest stars in the nebula, called the Trapezium for being their trapezoidal pattern. The bright glow at the upper left is from M43, a small region being shaped by a massive, young star's ultraviolet light.