One of the most remarkable sights in the night sky is M42, the Orion Nebula. It looks like a hazy patch of light in Orion’s Sword, which is to the right of the hunter’s three-star belt in early evening.
The Orion Nebula is a giant stellar nursery—a cocoon of gas and dust that has given birth to thousands of stars. It is in the south on winter evenings. The nebula is a faint smudge of light below the three bright stars that mark Orion’s Belt.