Astronomers and visualization specialists from NASA’s Universe of Learning program have created a beautiful, three-dimensional fly-through view of the Orion Nebula.
Described as “up close and personal”, the digital visualization immerses viewers among newborn stars, glowing clouds heated by intense radiation, and gaseous envelopes surrounding a protoplanetary disk. Using visible and infrared light from the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes combined with Hollywood techniques, a team at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and the Caltech/Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) in Pasadena, California, have created a detailed multi-wavelength visualization of the Orion nebula.
The Orion Nebula is visible to the naked eye and is located about 1,350 light-years away. Roughly 2 million years old, the nebula is ideal for studying young stars that are still forming.
Enabling viewers to experience and learn about the universe in a new exciting way, the three-minute video shows the Orion Nebula in both visible and infrared light to help explore fundamental questions in science.
“Being able to fly through the nebula’s tapestry in three dimensions gives people a much better sense of what the universe is really like,” said Space Telescope Science Institute’s visualization scientist Frank Summers. “By adding depth and structure to the amazing images, this fly-through helps elucidate the universe for the public, both educating and inspiring.”
