Failing stars
The faint red stars in this close-up image are the myriad brown dwarfs that Hubble spied for the first time in the Orion Nebula in visible light. Sometimes called "failed stars", brown dwarfs are cool objects that are too small to be ordinary stars because they cannot sustain nuclear fusion in their cores the way our Sun does.
Credit:NASA, ESA, M. Robberto ( Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA) and the Hubble Space Telescope Orion Treasury Project Team
About the Image
NASA press release
| Id: | heic0601f |
| Type: | Observation |
| Release date: | 11 January 2006, 16:00 |
| Related releases: | heic0601 |
| Size: | 3939 x 2955 px |
About the Object
| Name: | Messier 42, Messier 43, Orion Nebula |
| Type: | Milky Way : Nebula : Type : Star Formation Milky Way : Nebula : Appearance : Emission : H II Region |
| Distance: | 1400 light years |
| Constellation: | Orion |
| Category: | Nebulae |
Wallpapers
Coordinates
| Position (RA): | 5 35 13.34 |
| Position (Dec): | -5° 32' 48.58" |
| Field of view: | 6.57 x 4.93 arcminutes |
| Orientation: | North is 0.0° left of vertical |
View in ESASky:
View in WorldWide Telescope:
Colours & filters
| Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
|---|---|---|
| Optical B | 435 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Optical H-alpha | 658 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Infrared I | 775 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
| Infrared Z | 850 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
ACS |
Notes: Additional observational data from the WFI instrument on the ESO.MPG 2.2-metre telescope.