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A NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a region of the Great Nebula in Orion, as imaged by the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2.

This is one of the nearest regions of very recent star formation (300,000 years ago). The nebula is a giant gas cloud illuminated by the brightest of the young hot stars at the top of the picture. Many of the fainter young stars are surrounded by disks of dust and gas, that are slightly more than twice the diameter of the solar system (or 100 Astronomical Units in diameter).

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      Last Updated Mar 31, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
      Contact Media Claire Andreoli
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      claire.andreoli@nasa.gov
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      Last Updated Mar 28, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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      Download this image

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      Facebook logo @NASAHubble @NASAHubble Instagram logo @NASAHubble Media Contact:
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      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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