Orion Nebula

Orion Nebula — nebula, explore its interactive 3D model in Cosmoscope.

Explore Orion Nebula in an interactive 3D view of space. Inspect its astronomical data and the observations or reconstructions behind the model.

The nearest stellar nursery: a glowing cavern of gas where thousands of new stars are igniting right now. Four newborn giants — the Trapezium — light the whole cloud from inside.

Type

Star-forming nebula

Distance

1,344 light-years

Diameter

~24 light-years

Age

< 3 million years

Visible

Naked eye — Orion’s sword

Explore Orion Nebula in 3D

Orion Nebula is placed in three-dimensional space using catalogue coordinates and an adopted astronomical distance. Rotate and zoom to explore the model. Stellar surfaces, gas structure and dust depths may be reconstructed or illustrative, as described in its facts; this is not live imagery from a telescope.