Wonders in the Heavens: Orion Nebula

The Orion nebula was, continuously since the early times before its refurbishment, a preferred target for the Hubble Space Telescope. One major discovery was that of protoplanetary disks, the socalled "Proplyds" (planetary systems in formation) in these HST images of M42 (these images were used for an animation simulating the approach to a protostar [caption]). HST images of November 1995 have revealed further insight into the complicated process taking place in this "star factory". Hubble investigations of January 1997 have revealed interesting interactions of the young hot Trapezium cluster stars with the protoplanetary disks: Their violent radiation tends to destruct the discs, so that the lower-mass stars forming here may loose the material needed to form planetary systems.