Although this image is titled 'The Great Orion Nebula' it actually includes a number of other objects as well. The Orion Nebula itself is also known by the names M42 or NGC1976, and the other main objects included here are M43, or De Mairan's Nebula, or NGC1982, as well as the Running Man Nebula, or Sh2-279.

More information about the Orion Nebula can be found on its Wikipedia page.

At the time of taking this image it quickly became my favourite. I was really happy to be able to tease out the balance of colours of the red emission elements aw well as the blue reflection elements of this area of the sky. It's probably true that this part of the sky is one of the most widely known and most frequently photographed, so I had lots of other images to study in an effort to understand what I was trying to display.

You can view this image in the WorldWideTelescope by clicking here.