NASA
Today's picture is a marvel not only of astronomy, but of digital imagery. Stitched together from images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and La Silia, the European Southern Obervatory's terrestrial telescope in Chile, the full mosaic is made up of a billion pixels.
Astronomically, the image captures the Orion Nebula. The Nebula's the closest star-forming cluster to Earth -- a mere 1,500 lightyears away. It seems particularly vibrant because some of the dust involved in star birth has been scattered. At full resolution, about 3,000 stars are visible.
Below, recent Pictures of the Day:
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
Robinson Meyer is a former staff writer at The Atlantic and the former author of the newsletter The Weekly Planet.