Orion & Running Man

Object Type: Emission Nebula
Scope: Orion APO 80mm; Exposure 60 minutes.

This wide view pairs two neighbors in Orion. NGC 1977, the Running Man Nebula, is a large blue reflection nebula whose running-figure shape shows up readily in photographs but is hard to see visually. Just below it lies the Orion Nebula (Messier 42, NGC 1976), a brilliant emission nebula about 1,344 light-years away and the closest large region of massive star formation to Earth. Together they make one of the richest star-forming areas in the winter sky.