About Orion Nebula (M42)

Orion Nebula is a rewarding deep-sky target and presents itself as a diffuse object. It is relatively bright.

Current visibility

Right now it is at about 19° altitude and reaches 84° around 05:14 PM.

It stays above 30° for roughly 8 hours.

Nebulae benefit from filters, fine detail requires darker skies.

Observing tips

It is often recommended as an entry-level object.

What to expect

In small telescopes it remains mostly unresolved.

It is less prominent than the brightest objects in the catalog.

Type

Diffuse Nebula

Constellation

Orion

Distance

1600 ly

Size

30.0'

Season

Winter

Difficulty

Very Easy

Magnitude

4