Orion is undoubtedly one of the most easily recognized
constellations, and from Orion's belt hangs the "sword".
The middle of that sword may look fuzzy to your eyes, and
with binoculars you can see that it is in fact not a single
star, but the Great Orion Nebula (M 42),a stellar nursery set
aglow by the young stars in its heart. Just to the left of M 42
is a partial circle of white and red nebula, M 43. The bottom of
the sword that you can see with your unaided eyes is Iota Orionis,
the bright star on the very right edge of the Orion Nebula in this
image. The top of the sword is actually an open cluster of stars,
NGC 1981, the grouping of bright stars just to the left of the
blue and red "Running Man" nebula in this image. M 42, M 43, the
Running Man, and all of the other red emission and blue reflection
nebulae that you see in this image are parts of the massive "Orion
Molecular Cloud", a concentration of gas and dust that extends through
most of Orion.

This image won the Astrophotogallery.org "Photo of the Week" photo contest for February 2-8, 2008,
as well as 3rd place in William Optics'Astro Photo Contest 2008".


Image data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (modified)
Exposure: ISO 800, 10 seconds x 20; 1 minute x 20; 5 minutes x 32
Telescope: William Optics 66mm ZS, Baader MPCC