Chirayu 🐦

#PPOD: Orion Through New Eyes ✨️ More than 140 years after the first photograph of the Orion Nebula, NASA's JWST reveals this familiar stellar nursery in extraordinary infrared detail. Captured on September 11, 2022, by the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), this view peers into the nebula's inner regions, where young stars emerge from vast clouds of gas and dust approximately 1,350 light-years from Earth. Unlike visible-light observations, JWST's infrared vision can penetrate much of the dust that obscures newborn stars, revealing structures and stellar populations previously hidden from view. Powerful ultraviolet radiation from the massive stars of the Trapezium Cluster illuminates and sculpts the surrounding material, while dense clouds shelter the next generation of stars and potential planetary systems. From Henry Draper's pioneering photograph in 1880 to JWST's remarkable infrared observations, the Orion Nebula continues to transform our understanding of how stars and planets are born. Credit: @NASA @ESA @csa_asc #astronomy #orionmonth