Chandra X-ray Image of Orion Nebula, Full-Field
This is a deep image of the Orion Nebula Nebula Cluster made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory, containing over 1,600 X-ray sources. About 1,400 of these sources are young stars in the Orion Nebula Nebula and the rest are either background galaxies or foreground stars. The red X-ray sources are mostly young stars in Orion Nebula with little absorption by intervening gas and the blue X-ray sources are mostly young stars with larger amounts of gas absorption. The luminous source in the middle of the cluster, Theta Orion Nebulais C, is the brightest and most massive star in the cluster. The full-field image on the left covers about 7 light years on a side at the distance of the Orion Nebula Nebula. In comparison, the Chandra close-up on the right covers about 2.5 light years on a side.

Scale: Full-field is 16 arcmin per side; Close-up is 5.5 arcmin per side
(Credit: NASA/CXC/Penn State/E.Feigelson & K.Getman et al.)

Hubble Optical Image of Orion Nebula, Close-up
This optical image of the central region of the Orion Nebula Nebula Cluster was obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and released in 1995. The image emphasizes the gas in the cluster, and shows nitrogen emission in red, hydrogen emission in green and oxygen emission in blue. The image contains over a hundred protoplanetary disks ("proplyds"), regions where planet formation should occur. The four members of the Orion Nebula Trapezium can be seen near the center of the image. This image covers 2.5 light years on a side at the distance of the Orion Nebula Nebula.

Scale: 5.5 arcmin per side
(Credit: NASA/STScI/Rice Univ./C.O'Dell et al.)

VLT Infrared Image of Orion Nebula, Close-up
This infrared image of the central region of the Orion Nebula Nebula Cluster was made using the infrared ISAAC instrument on the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at the Paranal Observatory and is a mosaic of 81 VLT images. The Trapezium stars are seen near the center of the image. The K-band image (centered at a wavelength of 2.16 micron) is shown here in red, the H-band image (1.65 micron) in green and the J-band image (1.24 micron) in blue. This image covers 2.5 light years on a side at the distance of the Orion Nebula Nebula. A comparison with the same field of view for the Chandra data is shown on the right.

Scale: 5.5 arcmin per side
(Credit: ESO/VLT/M.McCaughrean et al.)

Super Flare Animation Still Images
This series of stills shows how X-ray flares from a young star affect a planet-forming disk. Light from the young star is reflected off the inner part of the disk, making it glow. The view zooms in to show small white flares continually erupting on the surface of the young star. A set of huge white magnetic loops then erupts from the star and hits the inside edge of the disk, resulting in an extremely bright flare. X-rays from the flare then heat up the planet-forming disk and will later result in turbulence that affects the positions of planets.
View Animation
(Credit: NASA/CXC/A.Hobart)