The Orion Nebula complex is undoubtedly one of the most famous and beautiful areas of the entire night sky. It is easily visible to the unaided eye from a dark location as a patch of brightness surrounding Theta Orionis, the middle star in the sword of Orion the Hunter, the constellation which dominates the winter night sky. Located about 1500 light years away, the nebula glows red predominantly from the light of hydrogen gas excited by energetic newly formed stars in the heart of the nebula. It is the nearest star forming region to our own star, the Sun. NGC 1975 , just below M42 here, is a complex of blue reflection nebulae mixed with dark lanes and a touch of red emission nebulae. The blue color comes from reflected starlight scattered by dust. NGC 1975 is often overlooked because of its spectacular neighbor, but is outstanding in its own right, being one of the brightest reflection nebulae in the sky. South is up in this image.