- NGC 1973 The Running Man Nebula
NGC 1973 is a combination of emission, reflection, and dark nebulas located just above the great Orion Nebula (M 42) in the "sword" hanging from Orion's belt. It is part of the large molecular cloud of which M 42 is a part. The darker pattern within the nebula, colored reddish by Hα emissions and surrounded by bright stars and reflection nebulas, appears to have the shape of a man running with his arms outstretched, a fact first pointed out by amatuer astronomer Jason Ware. This is where the popular name for the object came from.
With an apparent magnitude of 7, NGC 1973 is much dimmer than its neighbor M 42, but is still a good object for telescopes with larger apertures. It is a favorite among astro-imagers, due to its contrasting colored components and mixture of glowing clouds and bright stars. This object also has the designations NGC 1975 and NGC 1977, which along with NGC 1973 just refer to different parts of the nebula. It lies at a distance of around 1500 LY.
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