Click here for a higher-resolution image

This monochrome image shows a large section of the constellation Orion captured at the Hydrogen-alpha wavelength (about 656.3 nm). The view is sideways, with North pointing to the left. At the upper left are the three stars of Orion's belt in a diagonal line, and at the upper right is Orion's sword with the Orion Nebula (M42) and the Running Man Nebula to its left. Near the center are the Horsehead Nebula and Flame Nebula. The large nebular arc at the bottom is Sharpless 276 a.k.a. Barnard's Loop, a huge nebula that is thought to be a supernova remnant. Faint (and some not so faint) nebulosity permeates this whole area.

The larger image (click on link above) is annotated to show some of the deep-sky objects in this area. These include:

Open clusters NGC 1980, NGC 1981, and NGC 2112 (the latter superimposed on Bernard's Loop)
Nebula M78 and its companion NGC 2071
Dark nebula LDN 1622 at the lower left
Tiny elliptical galaxy NGC 2110
CG 35, an unusual "cometary globule" object
Additional IC, vdB, NGC, LDN, and LBN objects.