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M42

Messier 42
Orion Nebula
Diffuse Nebula

Recommended eyepiece: 40mm with the 6 inch, 32mm with the 16 inch.
When people look through the telescope this nebula will appear like a white cloud which more than fills the field of view.
The four bright stars near the center, in the shape of a trapezoid, are referred to as the trapezium.

M42 "Orion Nebula" Information

The four bright stars in the center are referred to as the trapezium. They are about 23,000 years old.
The density of the material in the cloud is about 1 millionth the density of a good lab vacuum.
One cubic foot of the cloud contains the following number of atoms:

25 million Hydrogen

2.5 million Helium

15,000 Carbon

6,250 Oxygen

5,000 Nitrogen

900 Sulfur

250 Neon

50 Chlorine

38 Argon

3 Fluorine
Star formation is continuing to take place in the cloud.
The gas cloud occupies most of the constellation of Orion.
The Orion Nebula is really only a thin layer on the surface of a much larger cloud of matter called the Orion Molecular Cloud 1 (OMC1).

a. This molecular cloud is more dense than the nebula (1 million molecules per cubic centimeter).

b. This molecular cloud is more massive than the nebula (1000 times the mass of the sun).

c. Stars are forming within this cloud.


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