Design

If you have binoculars, aim them at the constellation Orion. If you sweep in this part of the sky, you will surely notice Orion’s Nebula.

Notice that – right in the middle of Orion – is a short straight row of three medium-bright stars known as Orion’s Belt. These stars are Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka.

Below the Belt hangs the Sword of Orion. Near the bottom of the Sword, one ‘star’ appears especially fuzzy. Binoculars show it as a patch of fuzz, which is really a vast cloud in space – the famous Orion Nebula, or M42. It’s part of a vast stellar ‘nursery’ where new stars are being born, and is about 1500 light years away. Through a telescope, you can see four bright stars within the nebula, called the Trapezium, which are only a few million years old. (On a human scale, that’s the equivalent of newly born!)

Although you can usually pick out the nebula from city skies, from a truly dark location its beauty is genuinely awe-inspiring!