--- title: Orion Nebula: New Photo Reveals Nebula's Heart description: The image is the deepest and most comprehensive so far. Researchers are using it to better understand how stars form canonical: https://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/ author: Marisa Gertz article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-12T10:00:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:09:56.894Z article:section: Science og:title: New Photo of Orion Nebula Reveals Its Spectacular Heart og:description: A new view from the Very Large Telescope og:url: https://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc642f04d2395d725/69889b60656a3fc6e7bcc396/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A deep infrared view of the Orion Nebula from HAWK-I og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Photo of Orion Nebula Reveals Its Spectacular Heart twitter:description: A new view from the Very Large Telescope twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc642f04d2395d725/69889b60656a3fc6e7bcc396/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Inside the Heart of the Orion Nebula by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Jul 12, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  This image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile. This image of the Orion Nebula star-formation region was obtained from multiple exposures using the HAWK-I infrared camera on ESO’s Very Large Telescope in Chile.ESO/H. Drass et al. by [Marisa Gertz](https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/) ## Marisa Gertz Jul 12, 2016 10:00 AM UTC If you’ve ever seen a faint glowing patch in the “sword” of the constellation of Orion, that’s the [Orion Nebula](http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1625/?lang). It’s visible to the naked eye here on Earth because it is so strongly illuminated by ultraviolet radiation and brightly glowing ionized gas. A new view of the [nebula](http://time.com/3772495/see-hubble-best-photos-25th-anniversary/), taken in infrared by the Very Large Telescope in Chile, is the deepest and most comprehensive so far. Researchers were excited to see an unexpected — and previously unknown — wealth of very-low-mass-objects, which are smaller sun-like bodies. “Understanding how many low-mass objects are found in the Orion Nebula is very important to constrain current theories of star formation,” explains [Amelia Bayo](http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1625/?lang), co-author of a new paper on the discovery. “We now realize that the way these very low-mass objects form depends on their environment.” In the future, the [European Extremely Large Telescope](http://time.com/2902064/european-extremely-large-telescope/) (E-ELT), scheduled to begin observing in 2024, might be able to observe planet-sized objects in the nebula, something our current technology lacks the ability to do. Lead scientist Holger Drass hopes that, “we will discover a wealth of smaller Earth-sized planets with the E-ELT.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/"},"headline":"Inside the Heart of the Orion Nebula","datePublished":"2016-07-12T10:00:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:09:56.894Z","description":"A new view from the Very Large Telescope","url":"https://time.com/4400940/orion-nebula-photos-very-large-telescope/","keywords":["Space","one-pic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc642f04d2395d725/69889b60656a3fc6e7bcc396/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Marisa Gertz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/marisa-gertz/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc642f04d2395d725/69889b60656a3fc6e7bcc396/orion-nebula.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A deep infrared view of the Orion Nebula from HAWK-I","caption":"A deep infrared view of the Orion Nebula from HAWK-I","creditText":"ESO/H. 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