M42 Great, Nebula in Orion; Terry Hancock

The Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) is a diffuse nebula situated south[b] of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion and seen easily with the naked eye. It is 1,344 ± 20 light years away from us. This sensuous nebula painted by Terry Hancock and his camera is some 24 light years across with a mass of some 2000 times that of our Sun.

Supersonic gas projectiles rip through Orion’s hydrogen clouds. Each projectile is ten times the diameter of Pluto's orbit and is tipped with bright blue glowing iron atoms formed from an unknown violent event that happened something like a thousand years ago.