             APOD: 2017 November 29 - M42: The Great Orion Nebula

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                               2017 November 29
                                      [2]
                         M42: The Great Orion Nebula
              Image Credit & Copyright: Francesco Battistella [3]

Explanation: Few astronomical sights excite the imagination like the nearby
stellar nursery known as the Orion Nebula. The Nebula [4] 's glowing gas
surrounds hot young stars at the edge of an immense interstellar molecular
cloud [5] . Many of the filamentary structures visible in the featured image
[6]  are actually shock waves [7]  - fronts where fast moving material
encounters slow moving gas. The Orion Nebula spans about 40 light years [8]
and is located about 1500 light years away in the same spiral arm [9] of our
Galaxy as the Sun [10] . The Great Nebula in Orion can be found [11]  with the
unaided eye just below and to the left of the easily identifiable belt of
three stars [12]  in the popular constellation Orion [13] . The featured image
[14] , taken last month, shows a two-hour exposure of the nebula in three
colors. The whole Orion Nebula cloud complex [15] , which includes [16]  the
Horsehead Nebula [17] , will slowly disperse over the next 100,000 years.

          Free APOD Lectures: January 5 in NYC & January 9 in DC [18]
                      Tomorrow's picture: open space [19]

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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1711/OrionDust_Battistella_1824.jpg
  [3] https://www.flickr.com/photos/149719073@N06/
  [4] ap130320.html
  [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_cloud
  [6]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/149719073@N06/37727586284/in/dateposted-public/
  [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shock_waves
  [8] http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/cosmic_distance.html
  [9] http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/5000lys.html
  [10] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/sun
  [11] ap121203.html
  [12] ap171123.html
  [13] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(constellation)
  [14] https://www.astrobin.com/321712/?nc=user
  [15] ap101023.html
  [16] ap120212.html
  [17] ap130422.html
  [18] http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=37750
  [19] ap171130.html
  [20] ap171128.html
  [21] archivepix.html
  [22] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [23] lib/aptree.html
  [24] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  [25] calendar/allyears.html
  [26] /apod.rss
  [27] lib/edlinks.html
  [28] lib/about_apod.html
  [29] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=171129
  [30] ap171130.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [32] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [33] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  [34] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [35] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [36] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  [37] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
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