Orion Nebula

The Orion Nebula is a stellar nursery located near Orion's belt (McClure).  It is approximately 1,300 light years away from Earth, which means that it is still a part of our galaxy, and it is also approximately 30-40 light years in diameter (McClure).  Within this giant cloud of gas and dust, about a thousand stars are being born, and there is even an open star cluster, "whose stars were born at the same time from a portion of the nebula and are still loosely bound by gravity" (McClure).  Some scientists also believe that at its heart, there is a black hole (McClure).  The four brightest stars of the nebular are called The Trapezium and appear to only be about a million years old, which is young in terms of stars (McClure).  To put this in perspective, our Sun is approximately 5 billion years old ("How old is the Sun?").

I've been doing this blog for a little while now, and I'm still amazed at the new things I continue to discover about a place I have called home my entire life.  It not only makes you feel small in comparison, but it brings an inspiration for more knowledge.  I hope whoever reads this has a similar inspiration to go out and explore your universe.

Works Cited
"How Old Is the Sun?" Stanford SOLAR Center. Stanford SOLAR Center, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

McClure, Bruce. "Orion Nebula Is a Place Where Stars Are Born." EarthSky. EarthSky, 30

Jan. 2015. Web. 18 Nov. 2015.

Taken by the Harvard MicroObservatory 11/17/15