Orion Nebula
M42
👁️ Naked-eye
📋 A written introduction is coming — for now this page shows official values only.
Object
- Type (NASA)
- Nebula
- Distance from Earth
- 1,500 light-years
- Apparent magnitude
- 4 mag
- Apparent size
- 66 ′
- NASA description
- You can spot Messier 42, better known as the Orion Nebula, with the unaided eye from a dark sky site.
Source:NASA Hubble (Messier/Caldwell catalogs) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗NASA HEASARC (Goddard Space Flight Center) · checked 2026-11-02 ↗
Related
Constellation
In everyday life
- Light from this object takes about 1,500 years to reach Earth — the light you see tonight left around AD 526 (official distance ÷ speed of light).
- At magnitude 4 it is bright enough for the naked eye (limit about 6) — look from somewhere dark.
- It spans about 66′ of sky — about 2.1 times the full Moon's 31′.