M43: Orion Falls
Image Credit & Copyright:
Zhuoqun Wu,
Chilescope Telescope 2
Explanation:
Is there a waterfall in Orion?
No, but some of the dust in M43 appears similar to a
waterfall on Earth.
M43, part of the
Orion Molecular Cloud
Complex, is the often imaged but rarely mentioned neighbor
of the more famous M42.
M42, which includes many bright stars from the
Trapezium cluster, lies above the featured scene.
M43
is itself a star forming region and although laced with filaments of dark dust,
is composed mostly of glowing
hydrogen.
The entire
Orion field, located about 1600
light years away, is inundated with many intricate and
picturesque
filaments of dust.
Opaque to visible light, dark
dust is
created in the outer atmosphere of massive cool stars and expelled by a strong
outer wind of
protons and
electrons.
Source: NASA