The Orion Nebula is a formation of young stars that are about two million years old located 1,500 light-years away, with, “an enormous cloud of dust and gas” where a large amount of new stars are being created.

Stephan Hamel’s “Orion Temple of Dust’’ showcases the region around the nebula, garnering our Photo of the Week title for December 10, 2021.

Also known as Messier 42, the Orion Nebula is a stellar nursery, a large cloud of gas and dust where stars are born. At about 1,300 light-years away, it’s the closest large star-forming region to Earth.

Hamel said he captured the image over three moonless nights — November 7, 8 and 10 — from Hanwell, New Brunswick.

Hamel’s image was captured with a ZWO ASI2600MC camera, along with a Explore Scientific 80mm telescope and Starizona Apex-S reducer.

Honourable mention

This week’s honourable mention goes to Justin Anderson, who brings us a photo taken in Carberry, Manitoba, while chasing Comet Leonard, otherwise known as C/2021 A1.

Comet Leonard was first spotted in January 2021, and Anderson captured this shot of the comet on December 4, 2021. The photo was taken on Anderson’s Canon 6D Mk I during their first night chasing Comet Leonard.

Anderson planned to capture the church in the image as a foreground element, and after leaving their camera to capture the image, they came back to the pleasant surprise of also capturing a meteor that was also passing by chance. The meteor can be seen on the left of the church’s roof, and Comet Leonard can be identified by the turquoise light to the right of the meteor.