![Centre of the Orion Nebula (M42).[Credits : Photo AURA/STScI/NASA/JPL (NASA photo # STScI-PRC95-45a)]](http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/54/21254-004-EBF43126.jpg)
Astronomers have identified some 700 young stars in this 2.5-light-year-wide area. They have also detected over 150 protoplanetary disks, or proplyds, which are believed to be embryonic solar systems that will eventually form planets. These stars and proplyds generate most of the nebula’s light. This picture is a mosaic combining 45 images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Link to this article and share the full text with the readers of your Web site or blog-post.
If you think a reference to this article on "" will enhance your Web site,
blog-post, or any other web-content, then feel free to link to this article,
and your readers will gain full access to the full article, even if they do not subscribe to our service.
You may want to use the HTML code fragment provided below.
We welcome your comments. Any revisions or updates suggested for this article will be reviewed by our editorial staff. Contact us here.
Regular users of Britannica may notice that this comments feature is less robust than in the past. This is only temporary, while we make the transition to a dramatically new and richer site. The functionality of the system will be restored soon.