Orion Size:63" x 42" (160 cm x 107 cm) Seen shining through the Tadpole's

Seen shining through the Tadpole's disk

and dust lanes trace out fine structures in the disk and bar

53 miles across)

the galaxy is tilted nearly edge-on

The galactic panorama unveils a tapestry of the drama of stellar birth and death

Orion Size:63" x 42" (160 cm x 107 cm) Seen shining through the Tadpole'sThis image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope shows what lies near the sword of the constellation Orion an active stellar nursery containing thousands of young stars and developing protostars. Many will turn out like our sun. Some are even more massive. These massive stars light up the Orion nebula, which is seen here as the bright region near the center of the image. To the north of the Orion nebula is a dark filamentary cloud of cold dust and gas,