Orion Nebula

This dramatic image offers a peek inside a region of glowing dust and gas where thousands of new stars are forming. The image was taken by the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It represents the sharpest view ever taken of this region, commonly referred to as the Orion Nebula. More than 3,000 stars of various sizes appear in this image. Some of them have never been seen in visible light. These stars reside in a dramatic dust-and-gas landscape of plateaus, mountains, and valleys that are reminiscent of the Grand Canyon.

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