Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Infrared Orion from WISE

[Credit and Copyright: WISE, IRSA, NASA; Processing & Copyright: Francesco Antonucci]

Wow! Must see the Big One.

And from their archives, same pic, different processing:

2013 February 13: Infrared Orion from WISE

2015 APoD Calendar

The Big One

Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive - B -

March 24 1998: A Baby Galaxy
2006 August 30: A Backward Sunspot and the New Solar Cycle
April 14 1999: The Backyard Universe
2008 April 21: Bacteriophages: The Most Common Life Like Form on Earth
2008 August 18: Baily's Beads near Solar Eclipse Totality
2012 November 11: Bailys Beads near Solar Eclipse Totality
2001 July 06: Bakasa Eclipse Sequence
2012 December 08: Baku Moonrise
2002 February 01: Balloon TIGER
July 08 1997: Barnacle Bill And Sojourner
2013 January 19: Barnard Stares at NGC 2170
2005 April 20: Barnard's Loop Around Orion
2009 February 24: Barnard's Loop around the Horsehead Nebula
2006 April 17: Barnard's Loop around the Horsehead Nebula
2007 March 14: Barred Spiral Galaxy M95
2012 February 20: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1073
2012 March 25: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
2008 June 22: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
2006 August 27: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
2005 January 12: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
2000 October 04: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1300
May 19 1997: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1365
2007 April 18: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672
2001 March 21: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 2903
2009 December 28: Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
2005 August 25: Barred Spiral Milky Way
January 03 1998: The Barren Moon
October 31 1996: The Barren Moon
July 11 1999: Barringer Crater on Earth
November 17 1997: Barringer Crater on Earth
2001 March 31: Barsoom
April 24 1999: Barsoom
June 28 1997: Barsoom
July 17 1995: Barsoom
2014 January 20: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from SDSS III
October 31 1998: Bats And The Barren Moon
2000 June 28: BATSE GRB Final Sky Map
October 01 1996: BATSE's Biggest Gamma Ray Burst (Yet)
2008 February 08: The Bay of Rainbows
2006 September 19: Beagle Crater on Mars
2007 December 28: A Beautiful Boomerang Nebula
2008 October 22: Beautiful Spiral NGC 7331
2011 May 13: A Beautiful Trifid
2009 May 30: A Beautiful Trifid
2005 May 26: A Beautiful Trifid
2003 September 01: A Beautiful Trifid
2013 July 25: The Beautiful Trifid
2002 December 17: Beefing Up the International Space Station
July 31 1997: Behind CL1358+62: A New Farthest Object
2003 March 30: Beijing Ancient Observatory
May 06 1998: Beijing Ancient Observatory
2005 August 09: The Belt of Venus over Elwood Beach
2012 February 07: The Belt of Venus Over Mercedes Argentina
2010 April 04: The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon
2006 July 23: The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon
2003 October 21: The Belt of Venus over the Valley of the Moon
2001 December 09: The Belt of Venus
November 10 1999: The Belt of Venus
January 23 1996: Beneath Jupiter's Clouds
2008 October 27: Beneath the South Pole of Saturn
November 28 1999: Beneath Venus Clouds
September 24 1996: Beneath Venus' Clouds
2004 April 05: A Berry Bowl of Martian Spherules
November 28 1997: Beta Pictoris Revisited
2009 August 05: Betelgeuse Resolved
June 05 1999: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse
February 16 1997: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse
January 22 1996: Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse
April 19 1998: Betelgeuse
2003 January 27: BHR 71: Stars, Clouds, and Jets
2004 December 25: Big Beautiful Saturn
2000 January 19: A Big Black Hole Floats By
2003 April 26: Big Blue Marble Earth
February 18 1997: A Big Cliff On Jupiter's Callisto
2009 July 26: The Big Corona
2001 April 08: The Big Corona
September 15 1999: The Big Corona
2005 February 18: Big Dipper Castle
2006 March 17: The Big Dipper Cluster
2013 April 21: The Big Dipper
2011 June 24: The Big Dipper
2007 January 08: The Big Dipper
2006 November 29: A Big Dish at the VLA Radio Observatory
2003 August 27: Big Mars from Hubble
2009 April 11: The Big Picture
April 21 1997: Big Sky Comet
2001 January 15: Billows of Smog in the Outer Galaxy
2010 March 14: Binary Black Hole in 3C 75
2006 April 12: Binary Black Hole in 3C 75
2013 May 27: Bird Sun Dog
2008 August 11: Black Hole Candidate Cygnus X-1
March 05 1996: A Black Hole in M87's Centre?
April 05 1997: A Black Hole in M87?
2012 November 02: The Black Hole in the Milky Way
January 15 1997: Black Hole Signature From Advective Disks
January 14 1997: Black Holes and Galactic Centres
2001 January 19: Black Holes Are Black
October 17 1999: Black Holes in Galactic Centres
2010 May 29: Black Holes in Merging Galaxies
2012 October 15: Black Sun and Inverted Starfield
June 09 1996: Blasting Off From the Moon
December 13 1998: Blasting Off from the Moon
2008 February 18: BLG 109: A Distant Version of our own Solar System
2009 August 13: Block Island Meteorite on Mars
2010 April 27: The Bloop: A Mysterious Sound from the Deep Ocean
2014 July 15: A Blue Bridge of Stars between Cluster Galaxies
2007 March 20: A Blue Crescent Moon from Space
2002 January 09: Blue Flash
November 12 1995: Blue Jet Lightning
2006 August 25: Blue Lagoon
2000 April 20: Blue Marble 2000
2012 January 30: Blue Marble Earth from Suomi NPP
2010 January 02: Blue Moon Eclipse
2005 February 11: Blue Saturn
November 21 1996: The Blue Snowball Planetary Nebula
November 04 1997: Blue Stagglers in Globular Clusters
July 18 1997: Blue Stars and Red Pillars
2012 April 09: Blue Straggler Stars in Globular Cluster M53
2000 June 22: Blue Stragglers In NGC 6397
2003 August 08: Blue Stragglers in NGC 6397
2009 November 04: Blue Sun Bristling
2013 May 20: Blue Sun Bursting
January 06 1997: Blue Sun Glaring
2009 January 20: Bonestell Panorama from Mars
2000 May 03: BOOMERANG Images The Early Universe
2005 September 14: The Boomerang Nebula in Polarized Light
June 06 1997: Boosting Compton
2011 March 24: Boston Moonrise
May 22 1997: Bound For Mars
2004 May 19: Brain Crater on Mars
2009 January 04: Breaking Distant Light
2002 March 19: Breaking Distant Light
2008 October 11: Bright Bolide
2006 September 05: Bright Cliffs Across Saturns Moon Dione
May 21 1998: Bright Comet SOHO
2006 July 07: Bright Galaxy M81
2002 June 20: Bright Galaxy M81
2007 July 06: Bright Galaxy NGC 2903
2012 November 27: Bright Jupiter in Taurus
November 19 1998: Bright Leonids
2003 August 18: Bright Lights, Dark City
August 20 1997: Bright Meteor, Dark Sky
2009 October 17: Bright Nebulae in M33
2013 August 26: Bright Planetary Nebula NGC 7027 from Hubble
2012 March 16: Bright Planets at McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope
2007 October 11: Bright Planets, Crescent Moon
2010 April 16: Bright Points on the Quiet Sun
2007 May 29: Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 from Hubble
2007 May 15: Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 in Ultraviolet from Galex
2014 November 19: Bright Spiral Galaxy M81
June 02 1997: Bright Star Knots in NGC 4038
2006 June 19: Bright Star Regulus near the Leo 1 Dwarf Galaxy
2012 January 10: Bright Star Regulus near the Leo I Dwarf Galaxy
September 25 1996: Bright Stars and Dark Clouds
2001 November 03: Bright Stars, Dim Galaxy
October 14 1996: Bright Stars, Dim Galaxy
2009 November 30: Bright Sun and Crescent Earth from the Space Station
2014 January 24: Bright Supernova in M82
2001 March 08: Bright Venus
2001 June 25: A Brighter Comet LINEAR
2010 August 27: Brighter Than Mars
October 08 1997: The Brightest Star Yet Known
2014 May 01: Brisbane Sunset Moonset
2013 March 30: The Broad Tail of PanSTARRS
March 24 1999: Brown Dwarf Gliese 229B
2000 August 30: The Brown Dwarfs of Orion's Trapezium
2000 January 10: Brown Sun Bubbling
2013 October 08: The Bubble and M52
2011 September 14: The Bubble and M52
2009 October 30: The Bubble and M52
2008 November 13: A Bubble in Cygnus
2003 June 17: The Bubble Nebula from NOAO
2014 October 02: The Bubble Nebula
2013 December 14: The Bubble Nebula
2012 August 04: The Bubble Nebula
2010 September 02: The Bubble Nebula
2009 January 24: The Bubble Nebula
2004 July 16: The Bubble
January 02 1997: Bubbles and Arcs in NGC 2359
2004 October 16: The Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079
2001 August 22: The Bubbling Cauldron of NGC 3079
2000 June 12: A Bubbling Galaxy Centre
2010 October 24: A Bucket Wheel Excavator on Earth
2006 November 22: A Bucket Wheel Excavator on Earth
2007 September 10: Building Galaxies in the Early Universe
2007 March 26: Bullet Pillars in Orion
March 30 1998: A Bulls Eye Einstein Ring
2001 August 02: Burning Tree Sprite
2006 August 04: Burns Cliff Anaglyph
2004 November 15: Burns Cliff on Mars
2005 August 03: The Busy Center of the Lagoon Nebula
2011 July 18: A Busy Space Walk at the Space Station
2014 October 01: The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble
2011 November 13: The Butterfly Nebula from Hubble
2009 September 10: The Butterfly Nebula from Upgraded Hubble
October 21 1997: The Butterfly Planetary Nebula
2000 November 28: BZ Cam Bow Shock

Orion was the first constellation I learned...and is my favorite.

:’)

Well look at it this way, some wise-a had to do it :)

I find this baffling. It states that the Trapezium cluster is visible “near the center” of the image, but I sure don’t see it! In most images, this cluster, dominated by four stars of course, is very bright, and dominates any low powered view of the region. I can’t orient myself to this view at all, using the optical images available on the internet.

Probably due to it being in infrared. The small portion illuminated by the Trapezium Cluster is just the most visual part of the much larger Orion Molecular Cloud Complex. So depending on the wavelength and exposure setting it can appear very different.

It’s probably their processing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapezium_Cluster

Who’s that near the bottom?

It’s those guys from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Oh, for a time machine...

Gorgeous!

Thanks, Civ!

Mine too.

“Our Father, Whose art IS the Heavens ....”

:’)

My pleasure!

Well, it's pretty heavily processed. I found in addition to April 2013, this one from March 2013, which has a similar color scheme to the new one but is more recognizable by the general shape. The January 2015 caption says it is a "wide view" and it really is, as I tried to show with this animated gif:

Note the "roaring lion" on the upper right, facing down at the center. It is somewhat displaced and distorted between the two images. My overlay is only scaled and rotated. The overlay rectangle is the entire March 2013 APOD.

It appears to me that some of the stars in front of the "lion" are in a pattern greatly reduced in size for January 2015 ... evidence to me of some very artful processing.

More times than not, NASA does some “image processing” which they don’t always announce beforehand, especially when working with wavelengths other than visible. In this case an “illusory-color four-panel mosaic”. But aside from composites, color enhancement, false colorization, etc, I’ve never heard of a case where they’ve actually altered anything. Of course those claiming they’re covering up evidence of aliens on the moon and Mars disagree.