Astronomy Picture of the Day

                         Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! [1] Each day a different image or photograph of our
 fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a
                           professional astronomer.

                                2018 August 5
                                      [2]
                      Trapezium: At the Heart of Orion
Image Credit: Data: Hubble Legacy Archive [3] , Processing: Robert Gendler [4]

Explanation: Near the center of this sharp cosmic portrait [5] , at the heart
of the Orion Nebula [6] , are four hot, massive stars known as the Trapezium
[7] . Gathered within a region about 1.5 light-years in radius, they dominate
the core of the dense Orion Nebula Star Cluster. Ultraviolet [8]  ionizing
radiation from the Trapezium stars [9] , mostly from the brightest star
Theta-1 Orionis C [10] powers the complex star forming region's entire visible
glow. About three million years old, the Orion Nebula Cluster was even more
compact in its younger years and a recent dynamical study [11]  indicates that
runaway stellar collisions [12] at an earlier age may have formed a black hole
with more than 100 times the mass of the Sun [13] . The presence of a black
hole [14]  within the cluster could explain the observed high velocities of
the Trapezium stars [15] . The Orion Nebula's distance of some 1,500
light-years [16]  would make it the closest known black hole [17]  to planet
Earth.

        APOD Event: APOD Editor to speak at Fermilab on August 8 [18]
                      Tomorrow's picture: cosmic streaks

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    Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff [30] (MTU [31] ) & Jerry Bonnell [32]
                                  (UMCP [33] )
          NASA Official:  Phillip Newman Specific rights apply [34] .
              NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices [35]
              A service of: ASD [36]  at NASA [37]  / GSFC [38]
                           & Michigan Tech. U. [39]
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Site notes:
  [1] archivepix.html
  [2] image/1808/OrionTrapezium_HubbleGendler_4000.jpg
  [3] http://hla.stsci.edu/
  [4] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/
  [5] http://www.robgendlerastropics.com/ TrapMosaic-HST-Gendler.html
  [6] ap090222.html
  [7] http://messier.seds.org/more/m042_trapezium.h...
  [8] https://science.nasa.gov/ems/10_ultravioletwa...
  [9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezium_Clust...
  [10] http://stars.astro.illinois.edu/sow/theta1ori...
  [11] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2012ApJ...757.....
  [12] http://www.skyandtelescope.com/community/skyb...
A-Black-Hole-in-Orion-171183711.html
  [13] https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun...
  [14] ap141026.html
  [15] ap170321.html
  [16] https://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChil...
  [17] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest...
  [18] https://www.facebook.com/events/2245645315053...
  [19] ap180804.html
  [20] archivepix.html
  [21] lib/apsubmit2015.html
  [22] lib/aptree.html
  [23] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apo...
  [24] calendar/allyears.html
  [25] /apod.rss
  [26] lib/edlinks.html
  [27] lib/about_apod.html
  [28] http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?dat...
  [29] ap180806.html
  [30] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  [31] http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  [32] https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnel...
  [33] http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  [34] lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  [35] https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Priv...
  [36] https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  [37] https://www.nasa.gov/
  [38] https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  [39] http://www.mtu.edu/

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