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Astronomy Picture of the Day - Orion: The Running Man Nebula
NASA ^ | 2 Feb, 2026 | Image Credit & Copyright: Robert G. Lyons (Robservatory)

Posted on 02/02/2026 12:04:22 PM PST by MtnClimber

Explanation: What part of Orion is this? Just north of the famous Orion Nebula is a picturesque star forming region in Orion's Sword that contains a lot of intricate dust -- some of which appears blue because it reflects the light of bright embedded stars. The region's popular name is the Running Man Nebula because, looked at from the right, part of the brown dust appears to be running legs. Cataloged as Sharpless 279, the reflection nebula is not only part of the constellation of Orion, but part of the greater Orion molecular cloud complex. Light from the Running Man's bright stars, including 42 Orionis, the bright star closest to the featured image center, is slowly destroying and reshaping the surrounding dust, which will likely be completely gone in about 10 million years. The nebula spans about 15 light years and lies about 1,500 light years away.


TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa

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1 posted on 02/02/2026 12:04:22 PM PST by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber
To be added or removed from the Astronomy Picture of the Day ping list please send me a request via "Private Reply" (Mail).

For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

2 posted on 02/02/2026 12:04:54 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

3 posted on 02/02/2026 12:05:16 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber
Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

4 posted on 02/02/2026 12:05:53 PM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

“is a picturesque star forming region “ Has that ever been verified by observation?


5 posted on 02/02/2026 12:06:55 PM PST by Fungi
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To: MtnClimber

Wow.


6 posted on 02/02/2026 12:19:32 PM PST by No name given ( Anonymous is who you’ll know me as )
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To: MtnClimber

It looks like Richard Pryor and a squirrel.

Looking for cheeseburgers.


7 posted on 02/02/2026 12:43:28 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer” )
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To: blueunicorn6

There are so many ways to look at that and interpret it….


8 posted on 02/02/2026 3:17:51 PM PST by telescope115 (Ad Astra, Ad Deum…)
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