                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

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

                               2021 October 6

                            M43: Streams of Orion
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Jari Saukkonen

   Explanation: Where do the dark streams of dust in the Orion Nebula
   originate? This part of the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, M43, is the
   often imaged but rarely mentioned neighbor of the more famous M42. M42,
   seen in part to the upper right, includes many bright stars from the
   Trapezium star cluster. M43 is itself a star forming region that
   displays intricately-laced streams of dark dust -- although it is
   really composed mostly of glowing hydrogen gas. The entire Orion field
   is located about 1600 light years away. Opaque to visible light, the
   picturesque dark dust is created in the outer atmosphere of massive
   cool stars and expelled by strong outer winds of protons and electrons.

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