I’m amazed that I’ve spent so many years looking up at Orion in the night sky without having any idea that this amazing nebula was glowing as the middle “star” in Orion’s sword. The Orion Nebula is a spectacular star-forming region, and is one of the brightest deep sky objects. It is also the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. Its vibrant colors are due to reflections of light from the nearby stars illuminating the various gasses within the nebula