Description: M43 is actually a part of the Great Orion Nebula, M42, which is separated from the main nebula by an impressive, turbulent dark lane. First discovered in 1731 by Jean-Jacques Dortous de Mairan, M43 is occasionally known as de Mairan's Nebula and lies at a distance of about 1500 lightyears.
Credit: Nik Szymanek (University of Hertfordshire) and Simon Tulloch (ING).
Date: 2002.
Technical information:
Telescope: 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope.
Instrument: Wide Field Camera.
Detector: EEV.
Filters and exposure times: This is a 300 second exposure in H-alpha combined with colour information from an amateur CCD image.
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