The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way, being south of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion and is known as the middle "star" in the sword of Orion. It is one of the brightest nebulae and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky with an apparent magnitude of 4.0. It is 1,344 light-years away and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The Orion Nebula is estimated to be 24 light-years across and has a mass of about 2,000 times that of the Sun. Older texts frequently refer to the Orion Nebula as the Great Nebula in Orion or the Great Orion Nebula.

The Orion Nebula is one of the most scrutinized and photographed objects in the night sky, making it a great benchmark for one's progress in astrophotography. I've included last year's image of the Orion Nebula (February 2023), to show my progress. Soon enough I will be working on my 2025 version and updating this page.