Hidden treasure of Orion

GAS, DUST and stars provide the stuff to deliver a striking image of a long familiar object, the Orion Nebula (pictured). Despite coming under centuries of astronomical study there is always something new to learn about this corner of the universe.

The Orion Nebula is a huge complex of gas and dust where massive stars are forming in this stellar nursery. Data for this image came from the widefield imager on the 2.2-metre telescope at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla site in Chile. The artistry behind it however belongs to Russian Igor Chekalin, a participant in ESO’s “Hidden Treasures” 2010 photo competition. It gives amateur astronomers the opportunity to search through ESO’s vast archives of astronomical data to dig out “gems” that are then polished by the entrants. The image required five filters to capture the colours, with each filter exposure lasting almost an hour.