The great nebula in Orion is easily seen after dark these nights.
Go outside at 8pm and look to the west at an elevation of around 40 degrees.
Next to the moon it is one of the brightest objects in our night sky.
It lies roughly 1,300 light-years from Earth.
It supports a red giant star that is running out of hydrogen fuel and is near to gravitational collapse.
When it does collapse it will implode upon itself and turn itself into a ball of white hot expanding gas which will seem as bright as our full moon in the sky for a few nights before it finally fades away.
Douglas Mills
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